You Told Me You'd Stay by Malena Mayell (16, Oregon)

i save a seat for the new girl / vibrant anticipation / balancing atop tentative friendship / i share stories of how the last one / moved upstate through a mouthful of cheese sticks / i was wondering if you’d like to be my new best friend? / i’m bold, so are you / your promise wavers in the air between your teeth / i believe you / we’re laughing at our teacher’s joke / we make a good pair don’t we? / at lunch we swing the tether ball / you share the secrets you’ve never voiced / promise i won’t tell / your tangled hair gets wrapped up in mine / it’s all the same

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color / but your voice barely breaks when you tell me / you’re leaving / goodbye tumbles from my throat / for the thousandth time / i knew i was faster than you / from the days we raced across the field / tripping over our own feet / but you are one with the wind / on its hurried route to be ever-moving / you’re gone like the rest of them / and i’m still here / awaiting your next placeholder.