I just… I don’t even know what to say, you know? Like, the dinner just ended and I’m just sitting here in my room and I can’t even look at my parents right now. My brother, Leo, he got like a B- in math. A B-! Which, okay, fine, it’s not *bad* bad, but it’s definitely not like, stellar, you know? And my parents, they’re all, “Oh, Leo, you worked so hard! We’re so proud!” and my mom’s all teary and my dad’s making some big deal about how it’s about effort, not just outcomes, which is, like, a whole speech he gives. And they got him a cake. A whole CAKE. For a B-! And I’m just sitting there, sort of just pushing my food around my plate, trying to be happy for him, I guess. Which I *am*, kind of. But it’s just… a lot. Because two weeks ago, I got the letter. THE letter. My academic scholarship to State. Full ride. Like, I’ve been working my butt off for this since freshman year. AP everything, extracurriculars, basically no social life for the last, what, three years? And I told them, you know? I was like, “Hey, guys, I got the State scholarship!” And they were like, “Oh, that’s nice, honey. Good job.” And that was it. That was the whole thing. No dinner. No cake. Not even, like, a “let’s go out for ice cream!” just a kind of distracted pat on the head. Like I just finished a chore or something. It just makes me feel… I don’t know. Invisible? Like, I guess they expect it from me? Like, my achievements are just… baseline. The minimum viable product, you know? My brother struggles a bit, so his tiny wins are like, these huge performance bonuses, and I’m over here consistently exceeding expectations year after year and it’s just… crickets. Or, like, a lukewarm “keep up the good work.” It’s like I’m in some corporate meeting and I just delivered a huge quarter but the CEO is only congratulating the intern for showing up on time. And I know it sounds whiny. I really do. Like, I shouldn’t NEED a cake. I shouldn’t NEED them to make a big deal. The scholarship is its own reward, right? I got into a good program, I don’t have to worry about tuition. That’s HUGE. But it just… stings. To see that difference. The way they looked at him, like he just conquered Everest, and then the way they looked at me when I told them about my scholarship, like I just, I don’t know, filed my taxes on time. It makes me wonder if anything I do is ever gonna be enough to actually impress them. To make them, like, really *see* me. I just… I just wanted them to be PROUD, you know? Like, REALLY proud. Not just, “Oh, good for you, now pass the salt.” I just feel so… flat. Like all that effort, all those late nights, it just sort of… dissolved into nothing. And now I’m supposed to go to sleep and pretend like everything’s fine, like I’m not just sitting here feeling like I’m shouting into a void. It’s exhausting, honestly. All of it.