Unfamiliar Faces

My heart beats faster than my mind 

Which is running somewhere else other than here

It escapes to my home in West Virginia which is a thousand mile away from here

I pay no attention to the odd looks from unfamiliar faces

I pay no attention even though I know they snigger when I walk by

I pay no attention from the judgemental faces when I tell them I'm from West Virginia

I sit in my desk afraid

My mind cannot run from my fear

I know what's about to happen

Skylar 

The teacher calls my name beckoning me to answer a math problem

Defeated I shake my head in shame

He looks defeated too

I know what he thinks of me

What they all think of me

Dumb

Hillbilly

White trash

The teacher reaches us test papers

My anxiety kicks in

Numbers don't make sense to me

I begin to cry

I want to go home

I hide my face from unfamiliar faces

Faces of people who never tried to get to know me

Who laugh in my face because I'm dumb

Unfamiliar faces who give me familiar tears

That's what I'm afraid of

Living up to the dumb hillbilly stereotype

That West Virginia gives you the moment you are born in its rolling hills

I fight my own stereotype

I hold my ground

I study harder than they do

I'm not a dumb hillbilly I'm a 

lost hillbilly child

Far away from my mountain momma

Far away from West Virginia