~ A mirrored pool
Do you remember that girl?
Who trailed after you
Longing to be included,
But was laughed at,
And told she was too young
And too dumb
And a tattletale
When she had never said a thing?
Do you remember that girl?
She used to wear 2 plaits to school
and you would grab them and say "giddy up, horsey".
Do you remember,
she got put into B group for writing
and would disappear into the bathroom
every time it was writing period.
Do you remember her?
She got chicken pox that one year
and when she returned to school,
there was a new girl sitting
in her place in class
and all her friends had abandoned her.
Do you remember,
she was the only one who had to wear glasses
and so everyone called her "4 eyes"?
Do you remember that girl
Who said "Mommy, am i as pretty as [family member]?"
Who was told "Looks aren't everything"
Who was told to be smart instead?
Do you remember her,
she was the last one in class
to be allowed to use a pen.
To this day,
she is more comfortable with a pencil.
Do you remember that girl
who thought she liked a boy
and that boy started to pretend she didn't exist?
Oh and that year that everyone decided they hated her,
Do you remember that?
Do you remember her book,
"Comfort Herself"
that was her only company
that you took from her
that you teased her about?
Do you remember
how you locked her in the toilets
and wouldn't let her out
until the bell rang to go back to class?
Do you remember
how you wouldn't leave her alone
until she got so upset
she threw the apple she was eating right in your eye?
Do you remember
that time you punched her in the chest
so hard
it hurt to breathe for a week?
Or when you hit her in the face with a volleyball
and her glasses almost broke?
When you wrote on her commemorative photo,
"Don't get any more pimples".
Good times, right? Those kids just do the darndest things!
And the last year you knew her, do you remember
how she had no friends?
And how another boy she liked decided she didn't exist?
And when she refused to go to school after exams were done
until the teachers phoned
to insist
she come for the awards?
She scooped up most of the awards in spite of you?
Do you remember
that new girl in high school?
She didn't know anyone
and no one wanted to be her friend
because she had been
assigned
the least liked person as her mentor.
Do you remember
how she scraped together
a group of friends
over the period of 3 years?
Do you remember,
How she lived in fear of losing them
when she almost got assigned
to the second class for physics?
The anxiety that day was excruciating.
Do you remember the boy she fell in love with?
How she would have done anything for a kind word or smile
How she trusted him with her feelings
How he betrayed that trust
How he caused her to be ostracized
And laughed at
And called "stalker"
Do you remember the second boy she fell in love with?
How he called her fat?
But she married him anyway.
How he betrayed her trust
But she forgave him anyway.
None of you remember
"We were young"
you will say.
"Just kids"
"Who remembers such things?"
But she remembers.
That girl.
She cannot forget.
