Harsh lesson

I've learned that to be 'popular'
I must shut up and submit
To avoid being branded
I must not let emotions show
To display hurt, or anger,
or say what I really feel,
I must suffer every consequence -
Be abused for being real.

To hate someone
with more friends than you,
Is to be universally hated back
To stand up
against applauded abuse
Is no defense at all
And to be better
than those more liked,
Is not counted as better.

I have learned
That had I swallowed myself
and gated my emotions
I might have won a million friends
But to do what's 'right'
Is to me so wrong.
And this is what high school has taught me.