Hello kids, this is Risk.

The show where people tell true stories they never thought they'd dare to share.

I'm Kevin Allyson and every Thursday we release these special episodes that we're calling

classic Risk Singles.

Each of these episodes features just one story from our earlier years.

If you're new to Risk, you should know that the podcast can be very uncensored.

This week a story by the immensely talented Julia Whitehouse, who was Julia Weederman,

back when this story first appeared on the podcast in December of 2012, it's called The

Life of a Smile.

It's 1997.

I'm a senior at Mercer's Berger Academy, a small boarding school in southwestern Pennsylvania.

My braces are off, so I have perfect teeth.

Perfect beautiful teeth.

So I know.

One, in the long term, I'm on my way to being a famous Hollywood actress.

Two, in the short term, this is the year that one of the many boys that I have a crush

on will want to kiss me.

Now, I was a little bit of a weirdo.

Everybody knew everybody in my school.

It was a very small school.

So everyone knew everyone and everyone knew that I was an actress.

So I played up the, you know, just, I'm going to be famous.

...