Could

an's

hat I was thin

nd I just don't

shook when she said she'd never kissed anyone before, how she looked at me in

king about the fact t

d Carol

eld

I laughed at in sophomore yea

ared so easily into the background. The same girl whose pi

'm th

stop seeing her

hat too. She's in the halls, in the musi

head, in my chest, in

't even t

se I don'

I don't

herself like it was a shield, I knew I'd done somet

e her. I stood there like a co

p down, I b

she was a

t I

for years of silence and cruelty and expect her to beli

t kiss a gir

storm I hel

eating

he night aft

gotten it out of my system. But inste

't tex

message tw

e you

eant somethin

sor

ted th

The kiss? The night? Or th

locker hall, her hair pulled up like she did

d right t

t more than

used to her be

to being inv

a question in cl

sm

e her best friend Mabel, the kind that ma

w much it burne

been the guy

want to notice me is pr

t blam

't know ho

Damian my friend said during

nore

olin. Someth

p surprise

g your building last weekend.

hard. "Nothi

in. "Because rum

id, louder th

"Okay, chill. Didn't k

her

t the edge of my bed, staring at

ked i

lled like he

realized I didn't regret

ing what I felt whe

ed being

st wing music room-the same place

notice me

again, her voice

arts of me / I swore

caught in

in the doorway

that's w

I took her trust a

tared down at the piano key

ispered, "Why d

efore sh

at hurt more than

studio on campus. I plugge

tarted

ok. Not for

r

c in her bones and

broken just

know how to say / that your silence sa

sn't

was som

weeks

if she hated me, o

cipal made an announc

erform at the Assembly ground." To pr

rium erupt

e cla

ere su

like they'd k

at there, ha

I didn

oul

deserved more than

ved a rea

, I found her by t

alone. F

ut beautiful. Stil

o her line of

idn't

idn't

ce stayed

s," I said. "Abo

no

amazing,

aid n

ed, stupidly. "About...

ession f

nd I'm not asking for a second chanc

her the

n't tak

when I'm read

cing a smile.

e walke

nce-I did

layed the song

e, the lyrics didn't

lt like

e thing ab

s not the abs

f everything yo

so much mo

if she'd ever le

wai

d that s

wo