There are girls who manage to look gorgeous, beautiful, or simply cute when they smile, but I hate it when I smile...

My face structure is different: A narrow small face, like a cat's structure. I don't have much meat on my face, and that's when I gather wrinkles on my bags which are almost always darker than my face. When I don't smile, my face looks normal and I consider myself prettier than me smiling. The problem that bothers me is that when I do grin, my flesh around the lower face just gathers around the cheeks, leaving my mouth looking flat and slightly darker. More wrinkles and grin lines, I assume, appear, and this is when I break down (not in tears, but self-confidence).

I know it's because of the lack of sleep or something else because I'm not always tired, but I look like that 24/7. I can get rid of the dark uneven skintones with sleep and less use of technology and weekly swimming, but never those wrinkles...

My two friends and I are close, and since I'm the eldest in the group, my nickname is "The Old Lady". I just shoo it away as a joke because I am the oldest and I do more stuff that they've never done, but when one of two's sister points out my wrinkles when I smile and they all laugh, I think, "You're actually supporting her?!" I mean, she's 11, but seriously, sometimes the sibling should scold her sister but she didn't. That happened once last year, but it got me thinking about what kids look up to in teenagers. Later I just didn't care anymore and moved on.

Apparently, only the right lighting and time of day can "remove" wrinkles when in photos, another dilemma. I love my face, skin, and body but not these wrinkles that make me look older. I used to have a plump face, but then my face became sharper since childhood and my side's flattened. I have a very good friend who told me, "You should be proud of your face. Some women wish to have a face structure like you, and few resort to getting plastic surgery to achieve that jaw-shape." She made me feel better, and she told me to accept my face features and wrinkles, yet I have a hard time doing so, but I still considered her words...

[IchbinkeinTeufel]

Well, since you're really very young, I imagine it'll change as the years go by. Honestly, though? It's who you are, and I say be proud of that. I think it's OK to be hurt by that comment of theirs, ... especially if they know you don't like it; it's only gonna make you focus on it more, even if you pretend not to care. Smiling is a wonderful thing; never feel bad about smiling.