Thank you very much, Kitty! I’m sorry to hear that you also struggled with identifying as the outcast/invisible girl. The funny thing is, when I got older, I learned that the popular people I didn’t know how to connect with often looked at ME with admiration themselves. Weirdly though, it took until sometime in my 20s for any of them to confess that. Could’ve saved me a lot of youthful angst if I’d known, but I guess we’re all shy and insecure somehow when we’re young. Even the popular people.

In any case, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same turns out someday to be true for you: people you thought never noticed you might very well have been admiring you from behind the scenes. I hope that as you grew up, happy connections found you. Stay true to who you are. ;)