I used to hate the girl I was

I wanted to be confident like the girls in my class in junior high school who stood with their shoulders square and smiles on their faces. The ones the boys noticed and the girls envied and wanted to be exactly like

The ones who seemingly didn't have skeletons in their closets

The ones who had all the friends, who matched clothes in ensembles every day and got to play in all the sports, or were chosen for solos in chorus, while I was too shy and a self-proclaimed klutz

Well, maybe it wasn't only self-proclaimed that I was a klutz; since I was last pick most dodgeball games in gym class

The ones who got to laugh at inside jokes and know what happiness felt like

I wanted the teachers to see me, to know my name, correctly, to be the...