Halfway between child and adult
they attempt to choose what to be
and what to show.
Opposites on the spectrum of individuality
their true self hidden by the mask
in order to change who people see them as.

She roams the halls between classes
wishing her smile was wholeheartedly real but
on the inside, her emotions are twisting.
Among her peers, the mask of fake happiness is worn,
but as she sinks and escapes back to her bedroom,
her eyes are sullen with fear and uncertainty.

Caught up in the moment,
he’s alone with a beautiful girl
and tells her nothing but fiction about his life.
To the outsider, the mask reads “truth”,
but his face behind it carries his flaws,
which he covers with his lies of perfection.

Her group consists of the typical teenagers,
full of gossip and secrets with the girls who betray
and the boys who shove words down the innocent's throat.
Belief that this mask completes them,
showing their power in the world of adolescents
too ashamed to reveal everything they’ve worked for.

Interchangeably incorrect,
these masks make or break their reputations
and decide whether they’re accepted or rejected.
Adolescent standards are changed by the flick of their wrist;
one mask is replaced with another
and their true self is once again concealed.