Where I live, you gotta stay alert.

You gotta keep your head high, show the world you’re not afraid.

But don’t hold it too high.

Someone might ask,

“What are you looking at?”

There’s never really an answer for that.

You just look away.

Or the group of boys who live across the street

Might want to teach “that little bratty girl” a lesson

for acting as if she were “all that”

But you gotta keep acting tough.

Even if it’s an act

They’re acting too.

So taunt them about their earrings

Their little porcelain skin

Their girly little faces.

Smile as there faces make a shocked expression

Call them out, scream out their insecurities for the world to hear.

They’ll threaten to get you.

It would be no use.

There’s too many of them.

But you can’t be afraid.

Everyone knows they’re cowards

And they wouldn’t hit a girl

So taunt them all you want

I’m not afraid

But they are.