For most of us, growing up as anything but straight in secondary school wasn't exactly ideal.
Even if you weren't vilified or harassed for your sexuality, that air of not-belonging lingers over you; that feeling of existing just an inch outside of everyone else's world - unable to penetrate the invisible bubble that separates you from them . Sometimes, we still have to remind ourselves to shake that feeling off.
But perhaps Heartstopper will put a change to that.
The series explores the budding relationship between Nick Nelson, the popular rugby player plagued with realisation he may be bi, and Charlie Spring - a timid, self-conscious teen who's already had to face the ugly consequences of coming out at school.
But before the pair can officially become a couple - the one we see thriving in the background of Alice Oseman's debut novel Solitaire - there's some obstacles in the way.
One of those obstacles is named Ben: a schoolboy only willing to kiss Charlie and explore his sexuality behind closed doors.
Ben, portrayed by Sebastian Croft, doesn't become the show's antagonist for simply being in the closet (that would be slightly unfair) but for the brusque way he treats Charlie in school, and his inability to understand what the word 'no' means.
He poses with his girlfriend at the school gates, and barges pass Charlie in the corridors. He provides him just enough to give him hope, then snatches it away like it was never there in the first place.
And the sad reality is, most of us didn't have a Nick Nelson in our life. Seldom do you come across a mature, considerate boy who does right no matter how scared he may be - who can publicly reciprocate his love for another boy in a world that expects him to be as straight as can be.
However, most of us experienced a Ben.
It was the Ben type that made 14 year old me believe I deserved nothing more than a secret love, one that was inevitably doomed and destined for failure, but justified by the sporadic moments of feeling wanted in the music room.
I can't help but think, if Heartstopper was on Netflix ten years ago, that maybe I would've come to the conclusion that I deserved better a long time ago, that sacrificing so much of yourself for someone else's comfortability will eventually leave you with nothing.
That's why Heartstopper's launch is so monumental, it teaches a valuable lesson to LGBTQ+ youth about their worth, and could spare hundreds of kids the heartache - the kind that never truly heals.
And if you're Ben right now - there's still time to change.
