#contract - Hello Poetry

the ballot is back, and for the first time, it’s not a "no-decision." it’s a box I didn’t know how to carry, but somehow, we’re moving trophies together. 🏆 leans against the wall, calling her what she is— a district-wide punchline, a "cookie" that’s been sampled by every boy with a ballot and a lack of taste "You can just say she’s a whore," and for a second, the clinical walls of this chamber feel like they’re finally cracking. 🏆 sees the joke for the punchline it is, while 🥭 is out there buying a boutonniere for a girl who treats a **** salute like a casual Friday. 🏆 doesn’t hide behind the word "obligation." he hides behind apathy and teasing until i’m just a girl apologizing for not carrying the weight—not realizing he’s been trying to carry it for me all along. i’m standing in the middle of the floor, and I’ve lost my flow i thought i wanted the orange from the boy with sticky fingers who chose the ***** but now I’m looking at the boy with the legal pad who’s too terrified to choose anything at all. 🏆 isn’t a placeholder I’m using; he’s just a no-decision that refuses to resolve he sits at the judges' table and calls her a ***** with one breath, then stares at his flow with the next— too paralyzed by his own framework to actually sign the ballot. one is loyal to a mistake, and the other is loyal to a legal pad it’s a double-loss, and I’m the only one left standing on the flow. 🏆 has his own "shoulds" sitting at home. a girlfriend who is a line on a legal pad, a pro-con list that feels like a cross-examination I didn't ask to join. he says it’s platonic, but in this league, we know that every word is a tactic until the final round. 🏆’s weighing impacts to see who gives him more speaker points, but I’m not a round to be won- i’m the girl who held him when he cried because i was the only one standing here- now he sees that ballot as a debt, and he's checking how much prep he has left. i’m looking at 🥭 and seeing the "obligation," the "maybe," the girl who is a snack the whole district has sampled —and I feel gross. i don’t even need to say the word, because 🏆 already said it for me it’s a strange kind of whiplash— hearing him call her that with so much certainty, only to watch him hesitate over a three-month-old letter. like he thinks that if he just ruins her, i'll have nowhere to run but him. meanwhile, the boy I actually want stays busy upholding a contract with a girl who is nothing but bad evidence, choosing a six-month-old word over the person standing right in front of him.

0

Mar 24

Mar 24, 2026 at 6:02 PM UTC

sd_nerd27

A Boy with Sticky Fingers: i'm taking prep time (3.5)

the ballot is back, and for the first time, it’s not a "no-decision." it’s a box I didn’t know how to carry, but somehow, we’re moving trophies together. 🏆 leans against the wall, calling her what she is— a district-wide punchline, a "cookie" that’s been sampled by every boy with a ballot and a lack of taste "You can just say she’s a whore," and for a second, the clinical walls of this chamber feel like they’re finally cracking. 🏆 sees the joke for the punchline it is, while 🥭 is out there buying a boutonniere for a girl who treats a **** salute like a casual Friday. 🏆 doesn’t hide behind the word "obligation." he hides behind apathy and teasing until i’m just a girl apologizing for not carrying the weight—not realizing he’s been trying to carry it for me all along. i’m standing in the middle of the floor, and I’ve lost my flow i thought i wanted the orange from the boy with sticky fingers who chose the ***** but now I’m looking at the boy with the legal pad who’s too terrified to choose anything at all. 🏆 isn’t a placeholder I’m using; he’s just a no-decision that refuses to resolve he sits at the judges' table and calls her a ***** with one breath, then stares at his flow with the next— too paralyzed by his own framework to actually sign the ballot. one is loyal to a mistake, and the other is loyal to a legal pad it’s a double-loss, and I’m the only one left standing on the flow. 🏆 has his own "shoulds" sitting at home. a girlfriend who is a line on a legal pad, a pro-con list that feels like a cross-examination I didn't ask to join. he says it’s platonic, but in this league, we know that every word is a tactic until the final round. 🏆’s weighing impacts to see who gives him more speaker points, but I’m not a round to be won- i’m the girl who held him when he cried because i was the only one standing here- now he sees that ballot as a debt, and he's checking how much prep he has left. i’m looking at 🥭 and seeing the "obligation," the "maybe," the girl who is a snack the whole district has sampled —and I feel gross. i don’t even need to say the word, because 🏆 already said it for me it’s a strange kind of whiplash— hearing him call her that with so much certainty, only to watch him hesitate over a three-month-old letter. like he thinks that if he just ruins her, i'll have nowhere to run but him. meanwhile, the boy I actually want stays busy upholding a contract with a girl who is nothing but bad evidence, choosing a six-month-old word over the person standing right in front of him.