In an unpretentious school,
Was a short-haired boyish girl.
On the day of April Fools,
her life began to unfurl.

“She’s a boy,” her classmates claimed.
Behind her back, unashamed.
On April 1st, they pulled a trick.
Hiding in the restroom quiet and slick.
Pictures taken of her mass unclothed,
From eye to eye her body exposed.
She sobbed and sobbed at their cruel conspiracy.
That was the end to her only privacy.

One by one, she lost her friends
Left with her miscellaneous odds and ends.
Including the picture of her deceased mother.
A detail known by no other.
Then one day, loved photo in touch,
A student snatched it from her clutch,
Threatening to tear it until she explained it.
That was the end to her significant secret.

Laughed at, played by, made fun of.
Not even a single respond from above.
Knowing a single answer is near,
There are days she wishes it were here.
It’s too much, she cannot take it.
Each day ten times worse to even fake it.
A note left behind, a hand clasping a knife,
That was the end to her life.

*- Jenny Lam