Member-only story
She thought she was invisible
Imagine going through your formative years believing yourself to be unseen.
When I was at high school, I was as cocky, conceited, self-absorbed, and selfish as only teenage boys and the truly obnoxious can be. I was self-aware enough to have figured out that the world did not revolve around me; I just couldn’t figure out why.
I had a large group of both male and female friends. I was never bullied, I had no actual enemies beyond my French teacher, and I enjoyed virtually everything about my school years.
It was not the same experience for everyone.
It was more than 30 years before I gave into curiosity and a longing for the past and attended a school reunion. It was held in our old school hall and it was well-attended. For the first half an hour, everyone formed one big crowd. But slowly, we began to drift off into our own little huddles, mostly the same huddles we’d been in 30 years previously.
Towards the end of the evening, I found myself sat with one of my old classmates. Although she now wore glasses and had curly hair, I recognised her instantly. A memory flashed in my brain. “Do you still like Adam and the Ants” I asked. She smiled but she also looked surprised.
