Who am I behind the mask? 

 

Behind the mascara and the blush, 

 

Behind the permanent scowl etched onto my face. 

 

Who do I become when I leave the confinement of those school walls everyday? 

 

Who am I without the heavy books and mountains of papers filled with letters and numbers that don't even matter? 

 

Who am I if I don't have structure, organization, plans? 

 

Am I even a person anymore? Or am I some kind of robot they've created? 

 

Who am I without God or prayer or love? 

 

Who am I if I don't have family or friends or caring teachers? 

 

Who am I without struggle, discipline, honesty? 

 

Who am I? 

 

I struggle and I cry and I work hard everyday because I know who I want to be. I want to be better and stronger and more knowledgable. 

 

I want to spread hope and joy and make the world a better place to live in. 

 

So maybe I wear a little too much mascara and I intimidate people because I frown too often, but I don't pretend to be somebody I'm not. 

 

All these things are who I am, there's not a word or anything to describe who I am because being me is just enough. 

 

So yeah, I wear a mask and it's called my face. It keeps me together and it tells people who I am. 

 

My face is a mask, but it is not a filter. I don't hide behind it.

 

 All the crazy, exhilarating, and even boring things I do will be etched into my face in the form of wrinkles. 

 

So who am I beneath the mask? Who am I when I'm alone?

 

I am me. And I am all the things that make me up and I love myself! I do, I love myself! 

 

And I love my mask, my face, because there's nothing else like it, there's no one like me. I don't know why someone would want hide her true self, it's the most beautiful thing about a person.