Bro I share that core memory. Except it was coming home after having gone to the store for my mum. I was pretending to interview myself about what it was like to suddenly star in the Harry Potter movies.

I was telling “the interviewer” all about how much fun it was to hang out with Danielle Radcliffe. I even specifically remember that I was saying how sometimes he would joke about his scar burning between takes, which was apparently super funny when he did that.

So I was recreating how he would scream “aaah, my scar!” to show my fake interviewer how funny it was. It was at this point that I looked around and noticed the girl my age, who had stopped midway through putting on her bike helmet, in order to give me the dirtiest “what the fuck is this psychopath doing?” look, which I’ll never forget.

I also remember that I was really torn. On one hand, if i stopped because I had noticed her, that would mean admitting that I’m being a weirdo who shouldn’t do this in public. The alternative of course, being to double down and continue unapologetically. I am actually kinda proud of young me for recognizing the validity of just owning it - I mean, in the end I was just a kid playing and learning to socialize. Of course, I didn’t have the gall to pull through, so I ended up walking home in silence.