I don't know you
but there you lay
in black and white
a paragraph
of your sixteen years

they forget about the time
your gum got caught in your hair
and you cut off
your only golden curls

or that time you flooded the laundry room
and missed your softball game
cleaning up the mess

but wait
that was me
and this is you

a tiny, printed section
on my page
next to an ad for America Online
“You can talk to anyone, anywhere"
but you can't
I can't
and that's what happened

had you planned it out?
like I had
what happened to you?
did you crash your mommy's car?
did you crack your porcelain smile?
did you get a C in science?
did you try to talk?
But were silenced
or worse
ignored?

you could have been like me
or me like you

sisters
in a cruel situation
fighters
in that high school hypocrisy

but I blinked
and never saw you in the halls
eyes never met
paths never crossed
life's little joke
on you
no more
than an ink stain
on my paper