(CNN) -  Nine months after synthetic marijuana destroyed a large
portion of her brain, Emily Bauer did something her parents
feared they'd never see: She went back to high school.  Excited,
nervous and terrified, the sophomore rolled through the hallways
of Cy-Fair High School in Cypress, Texas, last week. Despite the
familiar surroundings, Emily is living in a new world.  She
can't read or write. She is relearning basic addition and
subtraction. A rotating cast of aides help Emily get through her
school day. They wheel her from class to class, assist her in
the restroom, help her eat, read class material to her and take
notes for her, as she is partially blind. She attends school for
half the day and goes to therapy in the afternoon.  And the
17-year-old has a message for anyone who wants to try fake weed.
"The high is great, but in the long run, it isn't good," she
said, describing her experience smoking synthetic weed. "It's no
fun to be stuck in a wheelchair, to have to go to therapy or
(possibly) die."