"Carpenter, Charles," the professor read from a long list of students.
It was the first day of college and Genavieve Colbert was readying herself for the impact of the next name to be called.
"Colbert, Genavieve." The professor's voice seemed to echo several times before he caught sight of her solitary and pale arm in the air. She felt several pairs of eyes travel her way, but it seemed to be mute interest rather than obsessive realization that attracted them. It wasn't always such a peaceable realization.
That she was daughter of Stephen Colbert, host of one of Comedy Central's highest rated and most-watched shows, seemed to haunt her everywhere. And she used haunt purposely; some more outgoing people might have seen having a famous father as exciting, thrilling, and maybe even a gift, but Genna simply saw it as a curse. She loved her father more than anyone else in the world, but the unwanted attention was sometimes more than she could handle. She could, at least, walk out of her house in Montclair, New Jersey without event, but during formal occasions where her or her father's name had to be announced, it seemed there was always someone there to point out, "Hey look! Stephen Colbert from The Colbert Report!" or "Hey look! Stephen Colbert's daughter!"
Her dad wasn't really different than any other dad, which is a silly thing to say considering she based that judgment on other dads she saw on TV. But, he seemed pretty normal. When she was younger, she wasn't allowed to watch The Daily Show, but she was never really interested. All she knew was that her dad made people laugh for a living. He often said he was "professionally ridiculous."
It wasn't until high school that Genna had to start living with the idea that her father's celebrity life would impact her own. Kids would come up and ask her questions. She often felt harassed in a way, but by the end of freshman year, most of the avid fans quieted down, probably happy with their blogs now gloating that they went to school with Stephen Colbert's daughter.
Genna didn't expect any better from college kids. In fact, she expected it to be worse, but so far (though it was only ten in the morning, plenty of time for fan-itis to strike) everyone seemed content with just looking on.
And that was the way she preferred her life. People could stare, she just wasn't outgoing at all. She was shy around everyone but her friends, which she had had very few of in her life. She played things pretty close to the chest ever since the outbreak of kid-paparazzi.
Her dad often said that she was just overreacting to the attention she wasn't used to. She admitted to herself as much; it wasn't so much harassment as it was polite inquisitiveness. But it was still unwanted attention, all the same. It wasn't even the slightly over excited fans she got. Generally it was the polite and curious ones, the ones who state, "Wow it must be cool to have him as your dad," or, "Man, your life must be really awesome with a comedian living in your house!"
They said the career like it was a rare species of animal, but Genna didn't see the difference between her father and the funny fathers on TV sometimes, which she knew must have existed somewhere.
Genna snapped her attention back into reality after she realized the professor had stopped calling names. He began the lesson, explaining the basics of Chemistry.
She zoned in and out of the lesson, knowing she was going to want to hit herself later for not paying attention. Two minutes until class finished, she noticed that the boy next to her was staring at her. She looked over, ready for some kind of outburst of comprehension, but he just smiled and asked, "You're a freshman, right?"
This was one of those questions that Genna often found herself making several smart retorts for, but stopped herself and nodded instead. "Why?" she added.
The bell rang.
"You don't remember," the boy said, getting up and heading out into the crowded corridors.