We sit side-by-side on the bleachers on our street

It’s been a long school term so we fill each other in

I tell you about the boy I like

 

“Our first kiss was like magic

It wasn’t quick or like the marriage of lips by amateurs

It was heaven and sugar and bliss

I chuckled after in high clouds

but a teacher saw us the whole time”

 

I tell you how my mother beat me blue-black

I raise my skirt to show you the proof of my stupidity brandished on my thigh

you guffaw and quake to the ground

I cannot help it, I cackle along

 

My story takes a back seat to yours

you failed math again so you would be back to my public school

with a loud roar I collapse beside you

we are going to make a bad pair at school