I try very hard to be happy. An upbeat attitude, positive outlook, and a glowing smile are the tools of my trade. It’s quite a challenge sometimes. Life isn’t easy and it gets you down. Even when that happens a fake smile stops my friends from asking what's wrong, or from me getting into a very unwanted conversation with my mother. My smile is my disguise. When my friends see it, it’s contagious and they all catch it. When my brother sees it, he runs away fearful of what I might do to him. When my my mom sees it, she asks me what happened and why I’m so happy. But when she saw it, she asked what was wrong.

Only someone you’ve spent endless hours talking to, stayed up all night worrying about, or looked into their eyes and said you loved them, can see past a fake smile. The instant she asked, that plastered smile fell off my face and shattered. My heart dropped like a twenty pound brick and my stomach hurt so bad, it must have felt the impact. It was time to talk and it wasn’t going to end well. Whether she took it when she left, or it just ran out and dried up with all the tears; my smile was lost for weeks and it still runs away from me when I think about her. Not even the most cleverly constructed disguise could have stopped everyone from noticing. For someone who always has a smile, it’s impossible to not notice when it’s not there. It’s easy being happy when things are going well. Have you ever tried it when they’re not?