On another tab of this computer
a forty page document
sits quietly.

It is a study guide for the Biology unit
we started yesterday.
I could take the test if I wanted.

But my homework and my studying is last-minute
rushed and stressful
pencil flying.

Last afternoon
my hammering heart burst
when she accepted my prom proposal.
I only stammered twice.
Her face lit up.
The dance is next Saturday.

Sometimes I feel as if
the hallways and the students who reside within
move around and past me
twisting and turning and yelling too loud right next to my ear
but dragged away by the treadmill hall
before I can think of a response.

Five weeks until the end of junior year.
It has been endlessly hammered into my cranium
that this is the stretch of time that will make the difference for
future, longer stretches of time.
My head hurts.
My homework's not done.

I must grasp upon the small glints of light
in my rapidly darkening environment.
Her face lighting up.
The laughs of friends.

I will go study from my study guide now.
I will last.
I am Arjun.