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Open Poetry #45
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Lady Ayla
Member
since 2008-07-19
Posts 84
WV, United States

0 posted 2009-06-26 04:13 PM



A loud ringing echoes through the classrooms, the hallways, and can even be heard outside on campus. It was that time again, where students swarm out of the classroom doors and pop out into the hallways, into the stream of people making their way to their next class. The hallways make me nervous and agitated. I put one step in front of the other, moving quickly, dodging people who just stop in the middle of the hallway. Don’t they understand that standing in the middle of a busy hallway was irritating? Can’t they just move off to the side to talk to their friends? The hallways are crowded, and if you hate crowds, as I do, it makes you nervous. Anything could happen. Somebody could rub up against you or touch you and get away with it, for a second later they were going down the stairs, or you wouldn’t be able to tell which frottenizer it was.

In the hallways, it’s helpful to be quick, and to tune out whatever is going on around you.

“I’m gonna bust a nut in your head!”

People are cursing, they are being rude and obnoxious, and what did that phrase even mean? I don’t think I want to know. And the teachers do nothing. They don’t yell at the obscenities. They don’t understand how a girl can pick out the ones looking at her, and looking in that all-too-bad way that makes your skin crawl, that makes you feel cheap, and exposed, even when you are completely covered up.

In the hallways, people are bumping into each other without apologizing. They are stepping on your feet, pushing you aside. Well, guess what? I can push back, and I will, and I have, and oh, you’re on the floor? Too bad.

People walk slowly. Too slowly for me. They talk to their friends, and I’ll all too willingly to speed up and past them, despite the mean looks they give me. It’s not my fault we have different values, but you’re not going to make me late for class.

The school hallways are like a bustling city street. You hear anything and everything. You can’t avoid the cursing, the horseplay, or slow people. You just get caught up in the flow of foot-traffic, hoping that you will get there on time.

I just keep my eyes forward while I slip my earphones in my ear. Calmness washes over me, the nervousness and agitated state melts away. I’m in the zone of music, and I can’t hear what you say to me.


© Copyright 2009 Heather L. Baker - All Rights Reserved
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