Tweak: Growing Up On Methamphetamines

Michelle tells Nic that Spencer is seriously ill with meningitis and has to remain in the hospital indefinitely. She asks him if he can look after Lucy and their house a little longer, and Nic is happy to help. Nic does not comprehend the severity of the situation until he sees Spencer in his hospital bed. He is terrified to see him “lying there, stuck full of tubes and surrounded by monitors…crumpled completely…shrunken” (170). Spencer maintains his positive attitude and tells Nic that even if he dies, he’s grateful for his life. Nic refuses to consider the possibility that Spencer may not make it and reads to him until Spencer falls sleep. He continues to look after Lucy, picking her up at daycare and putting her to bed while he thinks about his struggles with recovery and believing in a higher power.

Nic’s father, who “believes very strongly in psychiatry” (180), encourages him to get back on his antidepressants and go see a psychiatrist. Though his father has refused to help him with money, he is willing to pay for his therapy. Nic wavers between his father’s encouragement and Spencer’s rejection of psychiatric medication. Ultimately, he decides to keep his appointment, feeling as though he may be chemically imbalanced. The psychiatrist diagnoses Nic with bipolar disorder and prescribes a number of medications. Nic feels relieved and elated, thinking that “it all seems to fit” (183). In the meanwhile, he continues to take care of Lucy and visit Spencer. As Spencer’s condition improves, and as Nic comes to believe that he is being helpful to other people and maintaining friendships, he attains a new “sense of completeness and satisfaction” (188).

Nic learns that the LA Film Festival is soon, and he is eager to see Pedro Almodóvar’s movie, Bad Education. He reveals that he turned to movies often during his turbulent childhood and became a movie buff, studying and learning about movies and their directors. He asks his mom to get him into a screening, and she manages to arrange it for herself, Nic, and a guest. Nic decides to bring his friend, Josh, and is thrilled when Josh and his mom hit it off at dinner, discussing Hollywood celebrities and celebrity gossip. Inspired by the movie, Nic decides to write his own review and submit it to the online magazine, Nerve.com.

Nic is invited on a family vacation to Molokai with his father, Karen, Jasper, and Daisy. He is incredibly nervous and anxious about the trip, writing that he is unsure as to why they invited him but supposes that “they’re willing to give [him] a chance again” (195). Spencer is very excited about Nic’s trip, but he warns him against expecting too much and looking for validation in other people. Nic struggles between this warning and his desire to be respected by his family members. Their reunion is emotional, with Nic and Karen crying and Jasper and Daisy elated to see Nic. While observing the family, Nic ruminates on how Karen changed his life, introducing a degree of normality and parenting, and how different his upbringing was from that of his sheltered stepsiblings.