Hey you think you're a rebel? I bet deep down there's some part of you just waiting to conform.

Don't believe me? Well, hold tight because this selected shorts is all about the power and the price of fitting in.

I'm Meg Walitzer, don't go anywhere.

You're listening to selected shorts where our greatest actors transport us through the magic of

fiction, one short story at a time.

Picture this. You're at a school dance in the gym. No, no, you can't run away screaming. You just got here. You have to walk under that little archway of balloons and

streamers going past the sign that says fling into spring as you take in the scene.

Some of your peers dance, some whisper in small groups, while others search for a dark corner in which to misbehave.

Staring at you from across the room is that person who's had it out for you since the sixth grade and you seriously have no idea why.

Then you make brief eye contact with the person you've got a crush on or that someone you just

think is really, really cool.

And the whole time, you're thinking about your own social status.

You're thinking about that word popularity.

So, before any punch is drunk, before any awkward slow dance is had, how does all of this make you feel?

Now, some of you did not feel your hands get clammy while imagining that return to high school scenario.

Kudos, you're happy being your perfectly idiosyncratic selves with no need for approval, and

I envy you.

The vast majority of us, even after we grow out of awkward

adolescents, our social animals and still want to be liked, at least by a

certain subset of our peers.

And often that means taking a deep breath, suppressing lingering nerves, and doing our best

to fit in.

...