All my life I was treated,

By my older brother’s friends,

Just like a tag-along,

Younger boy,

So I guess I never learned,

Like other girls did,

That once you pass age ten,

You can’t be who you want any more,

You have to be different,

And say different things,

And I guess I never noticed,

Even when my brother’s friends did,

That I was growing up,

And I couldn’t play with them,

Anymore.

It was like a rule,

I had never learned,

While romping in the woods,

With them,

Or tapping my pencil,

On my desk,

In a classroom.

It was puzzling,

Because they stopped treating me,

Like they always had,

And started treating me,

Like something totally alien.

There now was a wall,

I couldn’t breach,

Of words and thoughts,

All about crushes,

And coolness,

And thing’s I’d never learned.

I guess this happens,

To every girl,

Who grows up with boys,

But I just didn’t expect it,

To happen so fast,

I thought I had more time,

To be me.

But,

Other things were in play,

And I had to grow up,

And leave my friends,

Behind,

In the world,

That I had once,

Occupied.