What makes the world
spin? Money, most claim
But I don’t buy what
they proclaim
To my opinion I’m tightly
bound
Only love makes this
world go ‘round
Don’t shake your
head, no rolling eyes
You’ll never know until
you try
Give love a chance;
lend me an ear
Your mind may change if
me, you hear
Her mouth flies wide open at the sight of the ninja-shaped,
sprinkle-covered, chocolate cake. “Is that for me?” I laugh and set down the treat
as the team gathers around to sing ‘Happy birthday.’ While she hugs me tight, I
whisper in her ear, “Well, you said your family hasn’t celebrated your birthday
in a while. So we decided that your
other family should.”
Trudging into my last class, my head tilts downward and smile
droops. I’m just trying to get through
the day when the girl next to me looks up and says, “You know, you have really
pretty eyes.” And I still now, I can’t stop smiling.
“One two three four five six seven eight, one two - now this
is where we turn left” I instruct, showing the freshmen how to pivot on her
toes. The bell rings suddenly and I
remember I have to run. But before I go,
I offer, “Hey, if you want to go over the dance again before auditions, we
could meet tomorrow at 2:30.” She nods gratefully. A few hours later, I look back on the moment and
realize I did not even know her name.
I stand at the start of the 800 meter run, the final event
in pentathlon. One does not normally smile before races, for they can be quite
painful, however, I can’t relax my cheek muscles for the life of me. It’s my first race back after a season of
being injured. It’s also the last race
of the year. When the gun goes off and I
spring from the start line, I cannot feel more alive. But the feeling of racing for the first time
in a while, and winning with a new personal record to boot, is nothing compared
to the fact that all my teammates are there, cheering me on and greeting me
with hugs at the finish, though they could have left hours ago.
Sure, it’s midnight and I have a Biology exam tomorrow, but
it will all be worth it when I see Charlotte’s face after she opens the
inspirational scrapbook that I’m making for her big race on Saturday.
I cannot believe I was
so stupid. My backpack lies in
disarray on the locker room bench and my wallet lies open beside it. How
could I forget to lock my locker? Salty
tears start to emerge as I explain to a friend that I had all my money
saved for the big track meet that night.
Now, I cannot even pay for food and a hotel room. My tears turn to waterfalls of joy, however,
when three different people pull twenties out of their wallets and tell me to
just pay them back when I get the chance.
I surge to the finish line of the 1500 meter run, desperate
to out-sprint my competitor in blue.
Leaning at the line, I snag first place by less than a hair. I move to
the side while gasping for breath. The
girl in blue does the opposite however, sitting right down in the middle of the
track and looking like her world had just collapsed. The disappointed look from her coach says it
all. So I walk over and reach out a hand
to help her up: “Nice race. You just pushed me to a personal record, thanks.”
“So I was procrastinating on my homework last night, as
usual, and I made this.” Cara holds up a pink and white friendship bracelet for
me to see. I pause from my reading to
look up and admire it: “That’s really pretty”! And before I know what’s
happening, she takes my wrist and puts it on me. “It’s for you,” she says with a grin.
To be honest, I’m not sure either why he chose to sit at our
table today. But the lonely look painted
across his sorrowful face, as if he has nowhere else to go, breaks my heart. So
instead of shooting him dirty looks like the rest of my table, I speak up:
“Hey, I’m Eva. Do you want a cookie?
So let’s pretend
tomorrow,
It all came back to
you.
If all your words and
all your deeds
Returned in your great
time of need
Would you succeed?
Or would you plead
For one who knew
love better than you?
*names are all changed to protect identities
