Charmed Mermaid

A mermaid's life isn't perfect.

She understands how she's supposed

to look and supposed to act.

She likes the way teachers already know her name

on the first day of class.

She likes feeling the eyes of other girls as

they marvel at her quirks.

But there's a part of her that keeps wondering what if

she let them all in on the secret - that it's hard to always

put on someone else's smile,

that she's standing on air, a fake who

speaks the right words and does the right things,

a fake who has nearly forgotten what it feels like

to be real.. who doesn't want to remember because

when the mask comes off,

she'll be falling short of perfect,

she'll be the girl she is, instead of That Girl.

Perfect grades, perfect family, perfect life -

she has it all, only on the surface.

I'm lucky, she tells herself. Lucky, lucky, lucky.