Catwoman's Got My Back

So I think you can tell from the last posts and from past posts...I was sort of a strange kid.
Well, let's be honest...I still am a strange kid.
But when I think about the strangest of the strange things I did...there is one instance in particular that comes to mind. And it comes to mind because I can remember my parents being genuinely kind of freaked out by it. My parents were always really cool with me...they let me be the bizarre, freakish child I was with few questions or complaints. In most instances, they encouraged me to be freakish. (So I could probably blame them for why I am so lame nowadays. HA!)
I mean, sure my mom was a little distraught when the only time I played with Barbies was to put them in the Barbie Jeep and let it "drive" down the stairs just to see how many Barbies would be left in the Jeep by the time it got to the bottom. Ha. The real fun happened when I got the Barbie kitchen set. My brother and I took all the crap out the of fridge and had Barbie tobogganing from the top of the stairs. I mean obviously my mom didn't jump for joy when I did this, but she didn't tell me to not do it either. God Bless my parents' hearts. They put up with a lot of crap.
...There was this one time though that they couldn't really hide how disturbed they were.
It was back to school shopping time.
My mom said my brother and I could get new backpacks.
I chose the backpack with Catwoman on it.
My mom could simply not understand why I could possibly want a backpack with a villain on it. Much less, the sexy-Michelle-Pfeiffer version of Catwoman on it. (I was both a Tim Burton fan AND horribly gay from a very young age.
My mom tried in absolute vain to get me to consider the Lisa Frank rainbow backpack with dolphins jumping around.
"Look Amy!" She said. "This one has dolphins!! You love dolphins!! Why do you want that backpack? Catwoman is the bad guy you know."
"I know" I said. But I was adamant. I don't really even know WHY I wanted it so bad. I just knew I was so not walking around in Lisa Frank backpack with rainbows and dolphins. Catwoman seemed much more appropriate to me.
Well, my mom let me get it. But explained the situation to my dad when we got home at dinner. I don't remember his reaction really. He probably teased me because that's what he did. Either that or he probably said something like, "A bad guy on your backpack?!!...Cool!!!"
When I went to school everyone talked about my backpack. Nobody teased me. But everyone asked me, "Why do you have a bad guy on your backpack?" The teacher was really concerned. "Amy, you're such a sweet girl. Why do you want to have Catwoman on your backpack?"
"I just like her." I said.
Ok, look...I got teased mercilessly in grade school because I was short and dumb at match.
But nobody fucked with me in first grade.
You want to know why?
Catwoman had my back.
Literally.
Would you mess with the class freak if she had a Catwoman backpack on?
I didn't think so.

...Then I got to second and third grade and upgraded to a jean backpack.
And well...that's another story for another day.
...Let's just say this chunky red-headed girl with a stupid perpetual chunky-kid-smirk named Ashley decided to make my life a social nightmare.
In Ashley's defense, I was a really sensitive kid.
I came home in tears one day because a kid told me that I sneezed weird.
Yeah.
Just a little sensitive.