When people first meet me, they think I’m edgy, maybe even bad-tempered. Once they start talking to me, they realize that’s not the case. It’s probably because of my piercings, and they’re only reading the cover. I have more than some and less than others. Over the years, I’ve had at least seventy different people ask me, “Did that hurt?” while pointing to their own bottom lip, questioning why I would do that to my face or to my ears. It never fails.
The summer after I turned thirteen, I became obsessed with piercings; ear piercings, face piercings, corset piercings, tongue piercings. Some were disgusting and others were interesting, to say the least. One kind in particular stuck out to me. As I looked up more and more pictures of pretty young girls with snake bites, I realized just how awesome having a pair for myself would be. My mom refused to let me get them, either we didn’t have enough money or she thought I wouldn’t like it in the end, but when I was visiting my dad over the summer, we went out and got my lip pierced.

That was only the beginning. My mother was horrified that I had these studs of metal in my lip, but she couldn’t deny that it brought a sort of interest to my appearance. Over all, I was ecstatic beyond belief that my dreams of finally getting the piercing I’d fawned over for nearly six months had come true.

Going into ninth grade with this piercing was interesting. Many that I’d gone to school with in eighth grade were a little bit shocked, while others seemed to enjoy them. Their opinion didn’t matter to me, because I was proud of them, and three years later it’s still one of the best decisions in my life. My snake bites give to me a sense of comfort. Whenever I take them out to clean, my face feels naked and lonely, even though the difference of them being there and not being there is hardly noticeable.

During my ninth grade year of high school, stretching your ears became very popular. More and more kids my age began stretching their lobes, and I listened to them curiously while they chatted to me about what size they were at, or presenting to me with a sort of pride in them the set of plugs they’d just bought. Ever the fan of, not quite rebelliousness, but doing things that my mom didn’t or wouldn’t like, I went out and bought a bunch of tapers and began stretching my ears.

Just like for my snake bites, I have people constantly questioning if my stretched ears hurt. I can’t help but give them a strange look, and then I remember the concept is all around them, but completely foreign, so I tell them it hurts no more than getting your ears pierced again if you stretch correctly. Since I was uneducated about stretching, I rushed the process and hurt myself more than necessary, but in the end it was worth it. I’m comfortably at a half-inch, big enough to stick a pen through but small enough that, if I wear the right plug, it looks like I’m just wearing earrings. Paired with studs from my second piercing hole, my ears look no less fancy when going out for an occasion than someone without stretched ears.

I was content to leave things like this. Belly button piercings and nose piercings interested me some, but I never went through with them, and I probably never will. When I look at the kind of people who have these kinds of piercings, the thought of what category I’ll get lumped into because of it bothers me. I’d rather not be grouped with a certain crowd at all than be grouped and deal with the hate for it.
I marched around, head held high, wearing tunnels to show off my stretched ears and enjoying the compliments I got on my snake bites, all freshman and most of sophomore year. Still, something felt like it was missing from my collection of piercings, so I went out in search of something else. I wanted something that would fit my personality and wasn’t the most common piercing in the book.

Eventually, I settled on getting an industrial piercing for my sixteenth birthday in my right ear. Then I felt even more unbalanced. My plan was to get an industrial on one ear and then two stud piercings in the other. I managed to get both stud piercings a few weeks later, completing my plan.

In total, with my snake bites, my industrial, my studs, my stretched lobes and my second lobe piercings, I have ten piercing holes, just on my head alone, and I still don’t feel complete. With so many already, others might have stopped. Some would have stopped at snake bites, or simply gone for stud piercings.
I’m not those people. I am me, my own person, and I plan to pierce whatever makes me happy. In the future, I’d like to get a tongue piercing and a conch piercing, and if the time comes when I want another piercing, I’ll go ahead and get that too. Unlike tattoos, which can be a serious mistake a lot of youths like making, piercings don’t have to be around for a lifetime.

If there had to be one thing in my life I was most proud of, it would be my piercings, and all the ones to come.