by Riley O’Connell ’15

Pretty, funny, silly girl,
once upon a time,
met a handsome,
bumbling boy, who
spoke to her in rhymes.
With bold
and gleaming
blackberry eyes,
he told her,
“We’re forever,”
but forgot it fast,
and when she asked,
he laughed, and said,
“Whatever.”
She thought it cruel—
his choice of words—
but kept her
complaints
quiet,
and pretended that
she didn’t mind,
but the boy
just didn’t buy it.
He thought her soft
and fragile,
but was delighted
by her laughter,
and thought maybe,
at a different time,
they could live happily
ever after.
They had an
understanding, though,
that boy and girl
together,
that maybe when
they meant “I love you,”
instead they’d say,
“Whatever.”