I never had a lot of female friends growing up. I gravitated toward sports and made it my mission to get picked for the boys’ teams. All my spare time was spent training, clearing my schedule for practice and trying to prove myself. It was exhausting. Not like the other girls, the guys on my recreational hockey team would say after I took an elbow to the face in a game. One of us, they cheered when I wiped blood from my nose. I’d laugh it off, but deep down, I wanted to be like the other girls. I wanted someone I could talk to about first kisses and bad dates. Period cramps and hot substitute
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