Neither Cher Horowitz Nor Daria

“Everybody. Everybody dislikes an overachieving math nerd. I was not a hit with the popular kids. I was not a hit with anyone. The girls with matching blonde highlights and denim miniskirts rolled their eyes at me as they passed out of the classroom. The next day, I moved to the other side of the room, near a girl with a flannel shirt and band patches on her backpack. I imagined the contempt she had for the girls with the highlights and figured I could seek refuge with her.

“Ugh, she’s the worst,” she whispered to her friend as I sat down behind them. It took me a second to realize that she meant me.”

— Rookie’s Anna Fitzpatrick remembers being unpopular with even the unpopular kids. It’s okay, Anna! Now you write for Rookie, which many of us read incessantly, age-inappropriately, and with many head-bobs of recognition.