Daring to be noticed for the first time in her life, she pushed her chair back and stood up. She realized her mistake. Cheeks going red, the burning feeling of all eyes on her, she wanted to sit back down but froze in that position, the terror rendering her unable to go further and unable to sit back down. Why did she want to be noticed? What had prompted such a stupid exercise in self will. The teacher stopped her lesson and looked at her. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

She didn't know what to respond. Was everything okay? No, absolutely not. This was a terrible idea. "I just..."

"Yes," said the teacher. Snickers all around. The teacher glared at one of the boys in the corner, who stifled his laugh.

"I just want you to notice me," she said.

The teacher stared at her, perplexed. The classroom burst out in laughter, which no effort on the part of the teacher could contain. This was it for the poor girl. The rest of her life at this school would be marked by this incident. It would haunt her until she left this place, and perhaps even further down the line. Boys immediately began repeating her sentence like it was a catch phrase from a TV show. "I just want you to notice me," they would say in a haggish falsetto. They'd mock it in any number of ways, perhaps portraying her as a witch-like crone, hunched over, saying it with a cackle; perhaps portraying her as a sex-starved teen, chest out, ditzilly miming the lines. She sat back dow