Learning How to Love Justin Timberlake

At 12, I wanted to fit in just like everyone else

Illustration: Erick M. Ramos

My parents decorated our attic with hanging strands of glow-in-the-dark beads. I used them to separate my bed from the rest of the room, shoving the box frame and mattress against the window with my head at the pane. Two sloping walls encased my bed, and beyond the bead curtain was a makeshift closet, a rolling pole…