When I Thought No One Would Notice My Secret Collection

I guess I always knew my secret wouldn't stay hidden forever, but I never imagined it would be so obvious. You know how sometimes you collect things and it becomes a bit of an obsession? Well, my thing is stickers, I've got thousands! They're all neatly organized in these old shoeboxes under my bed. Every night before lights out, I'd take them out to admire them one by one. It was like having this little world that no one could touch or judge. But then one day, after a particularly tough week where everything seemed to go wrong, missed the bus, forgot homework, had a fight with my best friend, I accidentally left the lid of one of those boxes open when I went downstairs for dinner. My mom must have seen it and she asked me about them when we were watching TV later that night. It's not like they're embarrassing or anything, but I was afraid she'd think I was weird, you know? So instead of telling her the truth, I said it was just some random stuff from a garage sale. She bought it at first, but then saw how many there were and looked really surprised. Now, every time someone asks about them, all I can do is smile nervously and hope they forget faster than I do.