"Phobias." my teacher said. "Raise your hand if you know what it means, or give me an example of one." Every student raised their hand except me. The first kid said claustrophobia, fear of enclosed spaces. The second kid said acrophobia, the fear of heights. And the third kid said social phobia, the fear of being socially active. Being the only person not raising their hand, of course my teacher called on me. I sat up straight and looked around. I acted like I didn't know, but I did. I had a phobia myself. Athazagoraphobia, the fear of being forgotten.
My teacher moved on to the next student. They said something-phobia, I don't really know, I was too busy drawing in my notebook. I was drawing a girl. With fiends, and admirers. The girl looked happy. Truth is, I wanted to be that girl. Popular. I don't want to be popular, just to be popular or cool. I want to be popular because that means no one forgets you. You are always in their head. No matter what. That's what I want. It's kind of hard though, when you have foster parents who don't love you, no friends, and nobody who loves you.
