There's a thing everyone seems to have — a particular phone, brand of shoes, gadget, whatever it is this term. It's become a kind of badge. Having it means you're normal, you fit, you're keeping up. Not having it means questions, looks, the occasional comment. You don't have it. Maybe your family can't easily afford it, maybe they just don't see the point. And you've started to feel it — a low, constant awareness of the one thing that marks you as slightly outside. You've been thinking about how to get one, or how to pretend it doesn't matter. What you haven't worked out is why a thing has so much power over whether you feel like you belong.