"I'm fine." is her response.
but, she isn't. she's just hoping to convince herself that she is, when she smiles and tells them she's fine. Just to ease her little mind, she's puts on a mask. She folds up all of her problems and disappointments and shoves them away. Just for the day. Thinking maybe, just for now, she could be happy. Thinking if she forces that fake smile, it would one day become genuine. A real smile. A genuinely happy smile. That's all she ever wanted. But the thing is, nobody knows. Nobody knows who she is inside, or how hard it is for her.  Not her parents, not her best friend. Because she wears a disguise.  She hides it oh so well, sometimes she herself can't tell. And because if they knew, they'd say she's exaggerating. She wants attention. She's just having a bad day. Well the bad day turned into a bad night. A bad week. A bad month. A bad year. But she doesn't want a bad life. She doesn't try to make herself miserable. She tries really hard to be happy. Sometimes too hard. She's learned not to expect anything from anyone, because with great expectation comes great disappointment. So much disappointment. Enough to make her sadness turn into emptiness. And she would rather be sad than empty.