just write it all out

14

PEOPLE ONLY SHOW YOU WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO SEE - 01/14/16

She struts the halls of your school, her perfectly curled hair floating behind her, her admirers following close behind. Her makeup is perfect, her teeth white and straight, her social interactions the peak of elegance and savior faire. She exudes confidence, and she doesn't sacrifice anything for beauty, for she is in the top ten percent of your class and is on the student council.

At home, she battles her body every day as it gives in to the lure of quick weight loss, and she vomits into the toilet after eating half the pantry. She scrubs her teeth with whitening toothpaste after every meal and every purge, and gets up at 4 in the morning to curl her hair, so she only gets two or three hours of sleep. She conceals the bags under her eyes with clever makeup, and constantly drinks coffee to stay on her toes, and to make sure that sour smell doesn't give her away.

He leads the team on the court, his body toned, rippling, and muscular, his fans in the stands cheering his name as he shoots his way to glory. His hair is smooth, shiny, soft-looking, and it catches the glint of the fluorescent lights when he flips it out of his face, glistening with a sheen of sweat. Off the court, he's a teacher favorite, with a charming smile and a good work ethic, and he's an influential member of the Gay-Straight Alliance.

At home, he battles his parents as they ask him why he chooses to stay in athletics when he should be focusing on his academics, and everyday he looks in the mirror, wishing he could make his parents happy by trading his body muscle for an intelligent mind. He spends his last waking moments every night imagining what his life would be like if he hadn't tried out for basketball in seventh grade, and his nights are restless as his dreams morph into nightmares filled with failure after failure after failure.

He calls the art classrooms his second home, with every possible moment spent in them, experimenting with new techniques and building up his portfolio. His art is all over the school - there's the mural depicting the school mascot, there's his poster for homecoming - and it's all good. He isn't antisocial, but he keeps to himself when he can, and he's so nice you can't help but wonder if he has any emotions other than passion for his art and kindness.

At home, he's an Internet "personality" who posts fanart and original art and doesn't get too much recognition. He loves one of his close friends who knows about his Internet life but is completely oblivious to how much he wants to get closer, and even though he has admirers, they don't notice when he feels inadequate, when he doesn't feel anything at all, when he cries himself dry, deletes all his social media, and waits for sleep to overtake him.

Ah yes how lovely was that

Another doodle. I guess I might as well say 366 doodles this year instead of drawings.