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(Lights up. MIRA is sitting at her desk, staring into the mirror. She traces her face with her fingers, frowning slightly.)

MIRA:
It’s never enough. I fix one thing, and something else looks wrong. My hair, my skin—everything.

THE MIRROR (softly):
You could always do more. You know what they want. Smooth, perfect, effortless.

MIRA (startled):
Who said that?

THE MIRROR:
Just me. I’m only telling you the truth you already know.

(ALEX knocks and enters, holding a smoothie.)

ALEX:
You’re still in here? You missed the art club meeting. We were talking about the mural—your design won!

MIRA (distracted):
Yeah… I just didn’t feel like going.

ALEX (sets smoothie down):
You didn’t feel like going, or you didn’t feel like being seen?

(MIRA doesn’t answer. ALEX looks toward the mirror.)

ALEX:
You’re doing that thing again, huh?

MIRA:
It’s just—everyone online looks so perfect. I keep thinking if I could just look a little more like that, maybe I’d feel better.

THE MIRROR (whispering):
She doesn’t understand. She’s not the one being compared.

ALEX (suspicious):
What was that?

MIRA (quickly):
Nothing. Just talking to myself.

ALEX:
Then talk kinder. You’d never say that stuff to me.

(Silence. MIRA glances at her reflection, torn.)

MIRA:
You don’t get it. The world only listens when you’re pretty.

ALEX:
No, it listens when you’re real. You’re the one who taught me that.

(A long pause. MIRA stands, staring at the mirror.)

MIRA:
Maybe I forgot.

THE MIRROR (urgent):
Don’t leave me, Mira. Without me, you’ll forget what to fix.

MIRA (quietly, almost to herself):
Maybe I don’t need fixing.

(She reaches out, slowly covers the mirror with a sketch she’s drawn—a portrait of herself smiling.)

ALEX (softly):
Now that’s the girl I know.

(Lights fade as the two stand together, looking at the drawing.)