Just Juice

Intro — whispered

Mom said, "Use your inside voice."

So I learned to break things quietly.

Verse 1

I got a red mark from the teacher,

black pen running down the page.

She said, "What's wrong with your behavior?"

I said, "Nothing," and I smiled in her face.

I kicked a hole through my bedroom door,

then blamed it on the baseball bat.

Dad said, "You better start behaving."

I said, "Make me."

He didn't like that.

Got a little cup underneath my bed,

said it was apple juice from lunch.

Funny how the older that I get,

the sweeter everything gets after one.

Pre-Chorus

Hide it in my backpack,

right behind the spelling test.

Everybody thinks I'm drinking sugar—

I just don't correct them.

Chorus

I'm a bad little kid,

with a bad little grin,

Got a mouth full of trouble

and a head full of sin.

Don't tell my mother

what I keep in my room.

It's just juice, just juice,

just juice in a paper cup.

I'm a bad little kid,

I don't wanna go home.

If the hallway gets quiet,

then I know I'm alone.

They say, "He's just angry."

Maybe that's what it looks like.

I'm just playing grown-up

every night.

Verse 2

I put my teeth through a juice straw,

chewed the plastic till it bled.

Teacher asked why I was shaking.

I said, "Too much sugar in my head."

I know which cabinet doesn't squeak,

which floorboard doesn't make a sound.

I know how to wash the smell off

before my parents come around.

I draw little X's on my homework

where the answers should have been.

Then I stare at them for hours

like I'm trying to let them in.

My friends are playing tag outside,

I'm counting ceiling tiles.

Someone says I'm "going through a phase."

I haven't felt like a child in a while.

Pre-Chorus

Hide it in my lunchbox,

right beside the apple slices.

Everybody thinks I'm picky—

I just don't like the taste of innocence.

Chorus

I'm a bad little kid,

with a bad little grin,

Got a mouth full of trouble

and a head full of sin.

Don't tell my mother

what I keep in my room.

It's just juice, just juice,

just juice in a paper cup.

I'm a bad little kid,

I don't wanna go home.

If the hallway gets quiet,

then I know I'm alone.

They say, "He's just angry."

Maybe that's what it looks like.

I'm just playing grown-up

every night.

Post-Chorus

Go to bed.

Go to bed.

Go to bed.

I don't wanna.

Go to bed.

Go to bed.

Go to—

...fuck you.

Bridge

I used to hate the taste of cough syrup.

Now I miss it when it's gone.

I used to fake being sick

just to stay awake till dawn.

There's a little bottle in the bathroom

with no name across the front.

I know I'm not supposed to touch it.

So I touch it.

And I laugh because

that's what bad kids do, right?

Breakdown

I'M NOT SICK.

I'M NOT SCARED.

I'M NOT YOUR LITTLE BABY.

I'M JUST TIRED.

I'M JUST MAD.

I'M JUST—

DON'T LOOK AT ME.

Final Chorus

I'm a bad little kid,

with a bad little grin,

Got a mouth full of trouble

and a head full of sin.

Don't tell my mother

what I keep in my room.

It's just juice, just juice—

why don't you believe me?

I'm a bad little kid,

and I'm learning real fast

how to make something ugly

look harmless in a glass.

They say, "He's just angry."

Yeah, maybe that's the whole trick.

Give a child a bad attitude

and nobody asks

what made him sick.

Outro

Mom said, "Finish your juice."

I did.

Long pause

I think I liked it better

when it was just apple.