Fitting In and Figuring Out
In middle school, one of our school spirit days was 80s themed. I wanted to go all out and convinced my best friend to do the same. That day I showed up to school with big hair, leg warmers, the whole shtick. She showed up in her usual clothes and insisted she was wearing blue eyeshadow in the spirit of the day. Another time I wanted to wear a kurta (a South Asian style shirt) to school instead of a t-shirt. I have always been unashamed of my culture, and there was a time when I wanted to teach others about it, too. My friend agreed to do it with me, but only if I lied to anyone who asked and said it was because we had dance right after class. After that I began to understand. I wasn't supposed to stand out. In high school I towered over all my friends by a solid 6 inches, and I hated my height. They were petite, so I starved myself not to look like a giant. They didn't like school dances, so we didn't go to any. They took all the hard science classes so I did, too