- Smile. Teachers like kids who smile, especially during classes when mind-numbingly boring concepts itch their way into your brain and eat away the inside. Yes, you don't like school. No, you can't say that. Smile, smile, smile. Adults like children who smile like their lips are pulled by puppet strings all the way to the moon. Even when they're forced. Even when you're tired and want to go home but oh, yes, I'll have time for extra homework anyway, yes, I'll help you clean up even though I've got three assessments due tomorrow. Kids like kids who smile, but their smiles have to be real or you're not.
- Don't smile. Not in class, because everything is serious and you're supposed to learn. Don't smile because school is for education, not for games and doodles and polychromatic fluorescent ink on your wrists in the shape of hearts. Don't smile in front of adults. They'll think you're dumb 'cause you live life in a carefree manner, because you don't stop to think twice about your own actions. Don't smile in front of other kids. Stay uncaring and deadpan, coz then they'll respect you. Smile too much and you're just another outcast like the last kid that was left behind. Don't smile.
- Dress the way they want you to. Teachers want high collars and stiff fabric to wrap your heart in layers of conformity. They want you to tuck your shirts in, polish your shoes, strangle the breath out of yourself by buttoning your uniform all the way to your vocal cords. That way, you can't scream out. That way, you stay silent. Adults want you to dress like a good kid. Don't over-accessorize yourself. Don't decorate your hair with those cheap clips you found in the store yesterday. Don't adorn your wrists and fingers with rhinestones or hang oversized loops from your ears. Dress simple coz you're supposed to, even though kids want you to do the exact opposite. Keep up with the fashion. Know what 'crop tops' and 'flare pants' are and whatever is sold these days. Don't dress all sloppy and dull or they won't like you. Run highlights through your hair like the Milky Way and make sure your jackets always have pockets.
- Survive. Survive even though it's hard, even though everyone wants you to do different things and you're torn between being accepted and being a quarter of this, a half of that, like some in-between creature. Make sure you're liked, but don't be a people-pleaser. Survive.
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