This Is Your Life Now

Light sobbing in the bathroom stall
Aren't we all crying a bit on the inside?
Report cards are passed out, the same pleas and worried voices,
"Can you make my B+ an A?" 
"My parents are gonna be so mad ..."
"I should've studied more."
Disappointed, we hug ourselves,
And remember that this is our life now.

Exiting the classroom
The soho dolls pass you by
Lips painted like porcelain figures,
Wearing the cool clothes you saw online
but couldn't afford.
Aliens to the real, regular world
Floating on a thick cloud of sexy and sweet that cloys you.
But you have to remember that this is your life now.
Everyone feels this way, so there are no soho dolls, or cool kids.
Right?

The bus is even worse.
You slink by the other students down the crowded aisle
And it's loud.
Music can't drown anything out anymore.
You're plagued by the infamous bouncing leg.

At home is quiet and pristine.
Only the faint blinking of the idle line on the screen
Waiting to jump to the right as the words flow out from your fingertips.
It's impossible.

At dinner, your parents ask what you'll do next semester to earn better grades.
You respond with the same half-hearted narrative about studying harder
Even though you had plenty of time to do so.
It was just "too much."
But this is your life now,
There's no time for "too much."

The simple tasks have been getting harder to complete.
Your focus is being the coolest, the cleanest, the prettiest. 
Your task is to easily manage the weight of your social, home, and school life
And stay happy and positive all the time.

These are crippling boulders that rest upon the shoulders of every teenager.
No one is guiding you through this
And no one is truly there to help.
But this is your life now.
You're grown up.
So figure it out or get over it.