GROWING PAINS II

I look around at the cashier's and pizza delivery drivers, and notice they're all my peers. My elementary school classmates are all either pregnant, applying for the college of their dreams or writing the next big rap song.
We took the SATs-- for real this time --and are terrified for the start of the rest of our lives.
I realize I'm not a kid anymore.
My younger cousin's favorite TV show is annoying, and the plot makes no sense.
Abuelito's bitter black coffee tastes so much better, and my two creams one sugar colored skin has started to grow on me.
I realize I'm not a kid anymore.
When my mom comes home from work exhausted, I don't ask her if she brought anything back for me; I ask her if there is anything I can do for her.
I realize I'm not a kid anymore.
My personality has finally taken shape. My ideals, opinions and creative thoughts no longer stolen from admired elders, but etched and influenced by trials and tribulations.
Now that I'm not a kid anymore, I know better than to throw temper tantrums and slam my door.
My mother only wants the best for me, and knows-- for the most part -- what the best is.
There is no singular situation that saved me from the depths of my cave to enlighten me on the realness of adulthood.
Because my first time driving a car awakened me just as much as comforting my sister after her panic attack did.
We read obnoxious amounts of 'coming of age' stories for this reason: some kids experience trauma others are burdened with new responsibilities. Responsibilities of different significances, and growing pains of different magnitudes.
What I didn't know before was how little the world was going to care about me. What I didn't know then was how sugar coated everything had been, and how bitter I was going to feel towards the expectations.
Expectations to fit the mold of that perfect AP student, keep a high gpa, and to completely dismiss art school.
Each hurdle led me to the inevitable loss of my innocence, then developed me into the strong, educated, and opinionated young man I am today.
Aware of the role I currently have in this progressing society--just another teenage highschool student-- I know there's not much I can achieve right now.
But I'm still growing, I know that there's so much further to go; there are ideas to be changed and influential roles to be taken.
So watch out, till next time.

This poem is about: 
Me
My family
My community
Poetry Terms Demonstrated: 

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