You wait Impatient, alive Counting down days till teenage years begin, till life finally peaks You thought it meant freedom First cigarette, first kiss, first drink, first hook-up. That’s what you thought That’s what you hoped Teenagers, just dirtbags chilling, wasting time, living fun But listen, It’s more It’s deeper It’s rawer than they told you Parents don’t always know Some teach you wrong, some say nothing at all And suddenly you’re a stranger in your own mirror A ghost A product of trauma passed down like heirlooms So you build walls Roll your eyes at lectures Boys lie about lips they’ve never touched trying to prove manhood Girls pinch their skin in the mirror, searching for beauty they’ve already lost to comparison You slam your door shut, turn the music up loud enough to drown out the confusion inside your chest You don’t understand your body Don’t understand your hormones But you swear, you swear you understand love You swear you’ve found “the one.” Then heartbreak comes Hard, sudden And you don’t know what to do You sit there, confused, silent, because no one is listening And it hits you, like a fist in the stomach Being a teenager isn’t cool Neither is growing up It’s not about how many people you kiss It’s about how many choices you face It’s about staring into a future you’re too young to solve but too old to ignore