You, You and I

[aquarius_galuxy]

[prose poorly disguised as a poem... sorry if reading it gets to be a drag =p half-edited by Pris]

We used to hop on the sit-up benches playing
Crocodile, in the midst of pressed uniforms and
girlish squeals.

We used to relax by the canteen benches
sipping soya bean milk and sharing
secrets that I felt
honoured to be part of.

You used to tease me about
boys, classmates I might have liked
were it not for your
meddling, that brought my pride
down by a
notch. I remember ignoring
you 'til you apologised.

You were the first I called
when the world emptied before my eyes,
when I struggled to deal with the
shell of a relationship.
All because of a
boy you never
teased me about.
You used to be the one I called
every day.

You used to be the one I
texted every day,
sat close to in class
whenever I could.
I used to look towards you when
Mrs Tan said we had to form groups
of four. There never was a
need to worry because
we were already two.

I used to look towards you when you
suffered from a loss, hoping I could
alleviate it in
some way. Because your
sadness took priority
over mine.
We swore we would be
friends forever,
signed with coloured pens in
scented autograph books.

You promised that I would
be one of the friends you took
away from school. I gave you my plain
notebook to write in that was
reserved
for my trusted friends.
Time drove a wedge between
us, starkly obvious when we returned to school
after the exams
and you pretended to spear my
hard boiled egg
with your fork. I had no patience
left
for pretence.

I tried to mend the gap
with needles and thread, words,
gifts. But disjointed conversations never
worked well
for you. My spool of patience ran
empty after the last
blue-tinted greeting
you spurned.
I dreamed of you last night and
hid from you
in my blurry-edged world
until you left.

But I have begun weaving
persistence afresh. It's a full reel
now,
if you would take the start of my
hand-spun thread
once again.