over the last week i realised how many girls
don't even eat their lunches in the bathroom stalls
but sit and let the pipes keep them company

because food and empty stomachs built on empty hearts
never got along
but i found comfort in the soft sighs of the girl sitting in the next stall
tapping her foot along to nothing in particular

it scared me to chew too loudly on my food
so i'd wait until someone flushed a toilet or laughed really loudly
because they didn’t need to know i favoured
bathrooms to the loud silence of high school kids

i didn't particularly love the smell of dettol, the beige walls
or the idea that someday
my recollection of high school would consist
of just that

but to all the kids who destroyed my resolve
lied to me and told me i was translucent; i want
to tell you

that i like the sound of creaking pipes
better than the venom your sharp tongues spit
and i am so glad to say that you are only
a marker of a discovery
that there is so much more to this campus

so trust me when i say
when i’m old and wrinkled, a shell
of who i used to be
i won’t think of you