Silence echoes around her

She is the only person in a crowd of people

Yet the silence engulfs her

     Elementary School

She is loud and boisterous

She makes friends without trying

Her smiled lights up the room everywhere she goes

Then the bullies

They don’t touch her, but she sees them

They ignore her, yet she fears them

She crawls deep inside herself

To make herself unseen

She whispers and slouches

Hiding herself deep down

She sees them slinging words at others

The smile slowly disappears

Summers come, hot and fleeting

The smile returns

School starts up

Year by year, it seems a little longer

By fourth grade, her smile is gone

Stifled by guilt and hiding

     Middle school

She barely sees the bullies

Besides ducking past a boy held against lockers

She doesn’t feel guilty

She doesn’t…we’re moving

Moving

She cries

Losing friends balances with the chance of a new life

A life where the smile can return

She hopes

She sees new kids becoming bullies, because only the bullies welcome them

She vows that she won’t make the same mistake

She fails

She does not become a bully, but she loses in her game of dodge

Pencil cases taken, books hidden, folders passed behind backs

She knows it isn’t right

But they say that she is too sensitive

And she wants friends

So she waits

Summer comes, and when the year starts, she no longer shares the same lunch

Then, a friend

A true friend, who supports her

And another, whose beliefs repulse her

His beliefs are everything that horrifies her

But she wants a friend

So she waits, the summer comes, and high school takes him

For the next year, bliss

She is still quiet, she has one friend, but she is happy

It doesn’t last

     High School

She sits in the lunch room alone

Her true friend no longer shares any classes

Not even lunch

So she does homework

And tells herself that she isn’t lonely

She wants to make friends

But she’s scared

Of making the same mistake

Of being rejected

So inwardly she cries

While keeping the face that she has protected

Straight, immovable, glowering

Because there’s still two years left

Silence echoes around her

She stares into nothing

Her heart yearning

Silence pulses through her

As her heart sobs

The only person in a crowd