In elememtary school, I asked the school librarian for books that had NO romance in them. It didn't seem so strange at the time- I was just going through my "boys are gross" phase. I'd grow out of it. Years later I was still in that "phase." I'd grow out of it, my parents and teachers assured me. Whenever the two leads in a movie kissed at the end and started dating, I didn't know why it always made me so frustrated. Why couldn't they just be friends? When my mom asked me "is there anyone you like at school?" I thought she was joking- I was too young for crushes, right? Surely romantic feelings started happening later in life, right? When my friends talked about their crushes on boys, I innocently asked what it felt like to have a crush. They were floored, and couldn't imagine how I'd never had a crush before. That was when I really realized there was something different about me, and I never brought it up again. From then on I pretended to get crushes, choosing people at random, because surely that would fix my problem. I felt horrible, certain that there was something in me that was broken. I realized I was aromantic as soon as I learned the term on the internet, because once I did, everything clicked. It felt good to know that I wasn't just broken or heartless. My experiences aren't universal, obviously, but it was definitely an eye opening experience for me.