My first hater

and does his existence mean I'm famous?

I started using the internet at a time when it was common for 13-year-olds to send each other links to videos of real terrorist executions as a joke and when there was no way to block those incredibly loud porn pop-up ads. Back when people got together in forums and chatrooms where user interactions ranged from strangers confessing their deepest, darkest secrets to telling each other to kill themselves - sometimes in the same conversation. 

So when I decided to be on the internet as anything other than a private person with a private account I was well aware of what it meant to exist online, especially as a woman. I didn’t question if I would be on the receiving end of comments telling me I was ugly/stupid/annoying, but rather when. 

So imagine my surprise when I found out that my very first hater was not a faceless icon posting mean comments under a nonsensical screen name, but someone I knew, albeit very little, in real life.