Didn't top the class, didn't smile on cue

Didn't fit the brochure, still I knew

They read me as slow till numbers said no

North of one five oh, graphs off the window

Tick the wrong box and they swap you a tag

Call it a spectrum, then blame you for the drag

Gifted

But only if you sit, don't move

I misspelled

Skipped steps

Still proved

Didn't play the game

Didn't take the name

Labels on my back

Slid off in the rain

Read the system first

Then I changed the frame

Clinic tests, double takes, side eyed stance

Aced the placement, they called it chance

Cheating, they said, suspension slip

Brief reprieve, then I tightened the grip

Grants said one, seats said two

Per student funds don't vanish, they move

Public page worn, slid the admin lane

Reimbursements looped to a single name

I logged the route time, screen, path

Took it in hard, no heat, just math

He kept his post, I got expelled

So I watched the systems,

Not the world they sell

Gran was a chemist, chaos with a license

Dose, endpoint, rinse, precise her science

She saw me straight, no soft translation

Let me move fast, learn by abrasion

Dust lifts at the gate

Light bar in the dust

They said both names at the verge

I took the track I knew

Five turns,

Then I'm there

Police lights through trees

Can't look

(Too real)

Seventeen

They said too young

Social services

Boxes assumed

Routine on paper

But the angle turned

Father's hand

Off frame

Wrong lean

(Seen)

Court notes

Redacted reason

Each match struck

Like a numbered season

I knew

Gran's lab silent

Pop's tools still

The house

Held their will

I don't cry in their way

I set the facts in a row

Can't turn back

Can't slow, shows how far I'll go

I'll give them more than words said nice

Airport

Domestic gate

Boarding call

Window left

Strap down

One bag, all I need

Everything I am

In a zip and a seam

Runway pull

Lift without drag

My choice

I call it choice

Sydney tarmac

Air held wrong

Gate spill

Black car

Motor low and long

Harbor bridge

Steel drawn tight

The metal bone

In executive light

North east pull

Money in moss

The kind that hides

How much it costs

His gates

Pierced in glare

Wall of glass, water’s glare

Still it knows my stare

Facade sealed

But the cracks declare

Driveway tag

Bike in sight

Gifted test

Engine bite

Visor down

Note on the bike

Ride it

He wasn't there

Throttle steady

I take what's given

Not the message

Not the scene

My choice

I choose

Make it choice

Night return.

Black glass water glare

Security thick but safety rare

Father's partner's kid

Isla there

Perma lit

Voice loud

Eyes glazed

Nothing square

Looks crazy

But...

Something...

(More there)

Gran left a key like a map in a pocket

Box in a bank, contact on a docket

AFP number, I dialed it once

Information only, no hero stunts

Rules

No boasting, no noisy devices

Everything repeatable, chain over vices

Heat rose later, safe address made

Different walls, different shade

Face like a window

Talk like a screen

You watch the reflections

But you don't step between

Frame the house

Mark the gate

You ride anyway

No matter the state

My father

Dominic

And crew

Not met, assessed

Calm like myth

Builds masks for weapons

Smiles with pith

Empire of omissions

Deeds offshore

Redacted paper

Another locked door

Moves like nothing could touch his skin

Mostly

It didn't

I watched defense win

Not a princess arc

Not a rescue scene

Just a clean ledger

And gasoline

He tried to buy Isla's end with a dealer stack

Money walked first, the visit did the rest

She read his habits, guessed his keys

Same spine on every lock, lazy ease

You frame the room

But you ride through still

What they call the story?

Just a line to fill

You learn to read

Without reading in

Facade or front

Same door, same spin

And you keep riding

No matter the skin

Trial ends, headlines crown what they sell

Daughter dropped king, neat little spell

But it's repetition, rooms with fluorescent

Truth said with a finger, mute ready

I stood when called, held the line

Stillness sharpened into design

They call it brave, they call it choice

If that sounds optional, you weren't in that noise

Call the thing what it is

Keep the good names out

The rest?

Write it down

Make it stand

Watch it count