Him. A Poem

The first time I saw

Him, I was thirteen,

The classroom bold, and

My thoughts clouded with

Thoughts of him.

Fourteen, I never caught

His eye. I would see him

Laughing his hearty laugh,

Walking out of the classroom

Next to mine.

The day we finally met,

The day he finally noticed

My existence, I was fifteen

And ready for school

To finally begin. Algebra

Was the class we were in,

First period,

And the room smelt of

Puberty and abstinence.

The teacher, the oh-so

Evil, relentless teacher,

Sat me next to him,

Convinced that a dumb girl

Like me, and a smart guy

Like him, should be together-

No, work together.

I remember the day clearly, because

It was the first day

Of sophomore year. He smelt of coffee

And experience, and I couldn’t decide

Whether the latter was a good

Thing to have.

His voice was rugged, and his

Cheeks were still chubby

From childhood

And my breath was shallow

Because I was fearing he wouldn’t

Like the scent of it.

If he didn’t like the smell of it,

I rationalized,

Then he would not ever want

To kiss me.

To this day, I can’t remember

The first thing he said to me.

I just remember us ignoring each other

Until one finally spoke up and said

Hi.

He helped me pass algebra that semester.

What happened that next semester is

A different story

Completely unrelated to

Him and me and our non-existent love story.

 

Sixteen,

Sixth week of school,

He has a girlfriend,

And I have me myself and I.

I never saw this as a bad thing-

No, I rather saw this as the beginning,

And not the end of

The story of us.

We hadn’t spoken to the other

For almost six months,

And thinking about this made

My heart sink into my stomach

When we made eye contact,

Smiled,

And walked up the stairs together

To our next class.

He smiled and was honest about it,

And I pursed my lips, trying to

Keep the adorance I had for him

Something only I would know

Until the right moment

Would come.