They put you in a box before you even know your own name

Decide who you are

And you spend the rest of your life either trying to prove 'em right.. or prove 'em wrong

This one's for you all who said I would be nothing

Fifth grade science, smells like chalk dust and formaldehyde

Walked through the door and saw the look she couldn't hide

The teacher, with her glasses on a chain

Kicked me out before I'd even had the chance to cause her pain

I just stood there in the hallway, my backpack on the floor

And asked her"What have I done?" as she was pointin' to the door

She said"Nothin' yet, son.. but you will"

And that sentence echoed in my head, a poison standin' still

A self-fulfilling prophecy, a label I would earn

The problematic white boy with a lesson he refused to learn

And I spent my whole life suspended, caught between the lines

Doin' my schoolwork from the couch, hidin' all the signs

Yeah, I spent my whole life suspended, an outsider lookin' in

Payin' for a list of someone else's future sins

They never knew the quiet kid who just wanted to belong

They only saw the hurricane they'd been expectin' all along

So I did my work at home, pages spread out on the floor

Provin' to myself I wasn't what they were waitin' for

Straight A's on every paper, a ghost inside the ranks

Fourth in the whole damn class, but I never got the thanks

'Cause on the days I showed up, I couldn't get it right

Tried to get along with everyone, but always caused a fight

Every hand I tried to shake just turned into a fist

Another kid on the outside, another name upon the list

There's only so much you can take before the anger starts to build

Before the bullied, quiet kid does what the prophecy fulfilled

I became the bully, found my power in their fear

Smokin' weed behind the body shop to make the noise disappear

Hidin' in the dugout with the other broken toys

Just another one of Franklin's forgotten, angry boys

On a fast track to a jail cell, or a headline in the news

Burnin' every bridge I had, payin' someone else's dues

That power was an empty meal, it never made me full

Just a temporary shield against the constant pull

Of that darkness in my gut, the voice that said I'd fail

The one that the teacher had set free to ride the rail

So I pushed 'em all away, every friend I ever had

Convinced myself that being lonely wasn't really all that bad

It was easier than trusting, easier than trying to explain

That I was just a scared kid standing out in the rain

And I spent my whole life suspended, caught between the lines

Doin' my schoolwork from the couch, hidin' all the signs

Yeah, I spent my whole life suspended, an outsider lookin' in

Payin' for a list of someone else's future sins

They never knew the quiet kid who just wanted to belong

They only saw the hurricane they'd been expectin' all along

And I'd be there still, or maybe dead, I swear it on my soul

If my grandparents hadn't stepped in and paid the goddamn toll

They saw the kid beneath the rage, beneath the smoke and spite

And pulled me from the darkness back into a sliver of the light

They didn't fix me, no one could, but they gave me a new start

A chance to build a different life and play a different part

So now I sit here. In the van

And I sample the silence of that empty hallway

I loop the echo of that slamming door

And I build a world where I'm not suspended anymore

I'm the one in control

Finally.