Why is it that when I look in the mirror, someone else's face looks back?

"You look really nice tonight."
What?
No I don't.
No I don't!

"He thinks you're hott!"
Why is that so funny?

"God, why do you like her?"
"…I don't know, because she's hott?"
"Ew!"
Don't you love best friends?

"I really like your hair."
Why don't I believe you?

When I'm stressed out, I run my fingers over my face and arms, looking for imperfections. And when I find an imperfection, I try to tear it off.

"Look at you, you look so pretty!"
Funny you should say that now, when I'm wearing a dress, which I never do, and have makeup on, which never happens, and my hair is in such a way that I never wear it.

Why do I scratch and pick at my face if I know it's just making things worse? It's because
When I look in the mirror, I don't recognize my reflection.
And I tear away my skin in hopes of finding my real face.

"Oh my goodness, you look so pretty in that picture! I can't believe it, you look like a different person!"
I'm only pretty when I look nothing like myself.

I wish that just once I could look in the mirror and see my own reflection.

" Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
Why is my reflection
Someone I don't know?"

"You act too much."
You have no idea. There's a reason why I'm so good at acting. It is because I do it all the time. And practice makes perfect.

Pick Pick Pick. Bleed. Scab. Pick. Scar.

"What happened to your hand?"
"Hmm? Oh, I just scratched it on something. I don't remember."
"Aww, I want to know what happened to it!"
It was a spider bite that I picked and scratched at until the skin came off and it got infected. But I can't tell you that.

" And they call me
Happy-Go-Lucky.
They don't know my heart is dying inside
My smile's a frown
Turned upside down
I do my Happy-Go-Lucky so well
I'm even foolin' myself."

"You are just always so positive and you always have something good to say. And you are just so upbeat!"
That's funny. And everyone agrees with you. And yet this whole time, I've been miserable inside.

People tell me that I'm lucky that I don't have an acne problem. I don't only after a morning of picking and bleeding

Sometimes, when I'm upset and I have to face my parents, I pause a moment before I walk in the room so that I can get into character for them.

You think you know me? How many scabs are there on my face, neck, and arms?

"Oh Deep inside
My heart resides
I know there is a place
But my broken mirror
It won't appear
It won't even show my face"

I looked at myself in the mirror, and I was actually happy with what I saw.
And then I looked closer.
And I was actually filled with hate.

The real me is hidden in a golden box, somewhere inside me, but nobody has opened it yet. Nobody has opened it yet because, looking at me, you'd never know that the golden box was even there.

You think you know me, but you don't.
I thought I knew myself, but I still don't.
And there is always that stranger staring back at me from the other side of the mirror.

Who is that girl I see
Staring straight back at me?
When will my reflection show
Who I am inside?"

Lyrics taken from Reflection, Christina Aguilera, Happy-Go-Lucky, Seventh Step, and Reflection, Kella Trams.