Sunshine Girl…

It glared at me with spite, always with spite I crossed my legs and sat with my hand holding up my chin
They were laughing, always laughing,
I tried to hide my face, but the burning ball of fire wouldn’t stop blinding my sight
It followed my head as I tried to turn away,
I could hear the indistinct chuckles echo through my ears
The light felt like an uncomfortably warm glass of milk resting on my forehead
My sweat was starting to marinate on my pores, I stared at the clock
It ticked as slow as my brain worked in math
The bell rang and I swerved to my locker,
I dodged everyone and didn’t even bother looking up from the floor, I’ve been getting good at that
The occasional few laughed, but most of them were used to it
The natural spotlight shone on me in the worst way possible,
My sweat started to tumble down my temple, as the huge bulb of light followed my every move,
I trotted down the road to my house as it trailed behind me,
It began to make my back itch,
I saw a couple down the street begin to stare and whisper,
Guess they don’t see a girl with the sun as her best friend very often,
I placed my “best–-friend” proof cap on and paused at the crossing,
The clouds were beautiful today, they filled up the sky with their magnificent paintings
I saw dragons and princesses,
I even saw robots and soldiers,
They danced around the sky and painted beautiful pictures,
I looked up and saw it still towering over me,
On even the greyest of days, it would still peep behind the clouds to judge me
It was not a friend, it was not an enemy,
It was just an indifference in my life I tried hard to ignore,
It felt heavy today as if it were breaking my back with every step I took
I bent down to tie my shoe and like clockwork, it did that too

A blessing some may call it, a burden sounds better
Oh, the things I would do to dance in the rain,
To sway with the wind,
And fall down snow plains,
I turned my head from left to right, and something grabbed my sight
A figure in the distance, just across from me
He looked down at his shoes and not happily,
My mouth curled up and wondered why he wouldn’t look up,
Was he scared or embarrassed?
The traffic was clear, and the lights flickered to green,
He was walking toward me and I to him,
Before flashing him a smile, I noticed something
My mouth gaped open, his hair was wet
His clothes were drenched
His face was damp
His shoes were a train wreck,
I gazed up to the sky and saw that he had a best friend too,
Not a glowing light but something else,
Something I dreamed about,
Something that made my eyes sparkle,
A little grey cloud that cried tears was hoisted above his head,
Beautiful, I thought yet he still looked sad,
I flashed him a smile and saw his mouth pry open,
He looked up at my sun and me at his cloud,
We exchanged glances and muttered a single sentence,
One we both knew was true,
One we hated listening to,
“Wow you have a beautiful friend”

-Maya Bharadwaj is a teenager from Melbourne, Australia, who is passionate about traveling, writing, reading, music, and ballet. She loves to take the reader into her world with her words.