Morning coffee in hand, soft music in the background, I walk through the noise of the world, unaware—or perhaps unbothered—by the backbiters whispering their hate behind my back, because now I’ve learned to love myself the way no one else ever did. I’ve changed, in ways that my younger self might never understand—she would hate me, for becoming everything she once feared: the girl who smokes to escape, who dates boys and lets them touch her hoping it’s love, whose grades have slipped from the top to average. but even then, I hold my head high, proud of the woman I’ve become, because I’m no longer that awkward, insecure, embarrassed little girl who hid behind silence and shame in middle school. Now I am louder, freer, still flawed, but beautiful in a way she never believed she could be. -lai