The teenage years are cruel and unusual...and that's at best. For the most part, the years in adolescence are gripped with emotional anxiety, social awkwardness, hormones and identity crisis. Sure, a few lucky teens go about their days blissfully unaware of their peers' misery, but I assure you...I was not one of them.

Several kids my age began "changing" sometime around the sixth grade. That's when my mom handed this book to me titled, "Your Body and You," while I was engrossed in a riveting game of "Legend of Zelda."

I knew what it was. I knew this had to be coming at some point.

We didn't really discuss the whole thing. It was sort of embarrassing. I didn't want to talk about pubic hair and wet dreams. I mean...I already wore deodorant and I didn't even have hair under my arms. Come on...that was enough for me.

The next year, I started playing sports at school. I was a small guy. Scrawny and short. Football kicked my tail, so I got into basketball. And, to be quite honest, it wasn't all that good to me either.

My friends were developing muscle without even trying. They were getting taller and taller. Skinny as ever and still short, I continued trying anyway. I knew I'd catch up at some point. I had to. I was a seventh grader now. I mean, you know, seventh graders were the big kids at my school and I bet a fifth grader could've beaten me to a pulp.

My parents didn't seem too worried when I talked about being a small kid. They said if I wanted muscle, I should lift weights. But...if I started too early it might stunt my growth. And, as you might have guessed, I didn't want to be short. So, I avoided lifting anything heavy.

Despite my lack of time on the court, I continued playing basketball in the eighth grade. Our practice time came just before the final hour of school. So, to be presentable for class, we'd have to hit the showers.

God, what an awful time. By then, the rest of my friends had already started puberty and I was still, God bless me, as hairless as the day I was born. Not a strand of pubic hair on me. And, for that, I was teased.

"Hairless."

That's the name my friends pinned on me.

I still don't know why schools won't spring the money to ensure a little privacy for their students. But...that wasn't for me to debate back then. I had to be like everyone else. I didn't want to be the smelly kid, too. The weight of a name like "Hairless" was too much for a 14 year old boy and "Stinky" wouldn't have coupled well

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