Wildly Acceptable

Drowning

Anne wondered if time would speed up. Typically teens wished that to grow up faster and get out of their parent's house, but her only intention was for the school year to end. There'd been tons of unnecessary drama from the first day and Anne simply wanted a real break from it all and a two-day weekend was not enough. It was the most annoying thing, at the end of the year teachers assigned the most excruciating amount of homework and everything begins to feel like a lot like-

"We are drowning." Anne smiled as she finished reading her poem and the class erupted with applause, "That was beautiful, Anne. Well done," Ms. Stacy remarked and checked her watch. Anne walked back to her seat. "Tomorrow we hear from Ruby, Levi, Charlie, and Jessica. I'll let you guys out early, there's only a few minutes left." The class instantly grabbed there bags and left, hearing Ms. Stacy call, "Have a nice day" behind them.

Ruby rushed a bit to catch up to Anne, "That was really good, Anne. You always use words and I never know why you mean, but they sounded really good." Although they said they would try to become friends, Anne and Ruby hadn't really put much effort in yet. "Thanks Ruby." The girls began to exchange notes on what made a poem a masterpiece and how Ruby could enhance her's.

"Like the wind moves the waves, and the sky touches the sea-" Anne stopped her, "I'm not entirely understanding what you're trying to convey, Ruby." She dropped her arms in defeat. They had taken over an empty classroom to fix Ruby's poem. "I don't even know what I'm saying. Don't you have like a spare poem we can dumb down and make it sound like me? I don't even know why Ms. Stacy asked us to write about the tragedies of life, we're rich kids. We don't have tragedy!"

Anne smirked, "Alright, I may have something." She flipped through her notebook looking through her poems, "I have one on the simplicities of death." Ruby's eyes widened, "What! Anne why?" She shrugged because she wasn't even entirely sure why, "Okay, I have one on the long lived battle of misogyny," Ruby shook her head, "Okay. How about Why." Ruby grew curious, "Why?" Anne took the opportunity to read the poem.

Why.
What a word.
A simple word that can expose the truth in a matter of seconds.
How amazing it is,
To watch stories unravel at the simple fear of the word.
Who can escape the treacheries,
no one. It slips out all the secretive meanings of the world.
Where does it come from, being such a horrid entity.
When it is asked by a child, it is to learn.
By a friend, it is to understand.
It can be friend or foe,
but nonetheless it remains
A simple word that can expose the truth in a matter of seconds.

"Anne, that was beautiful, I couldn't use that," Ruby said. Anne nodded, "What if I just help you write a whole new one." The girls spent the entirety of their lunch, working out a poem that was deep and meaningful, but was also 'Ruby'.

"I think this works, Anne. Thank you." Ruby gave Anne a smile, and in return she smiled back, "Of course. We started off the school year with bad blood towards each other over Gilbert, and it was silly. I truly do want to try and be friends, Ruby." Ruby nodded, "I'd like that. Truth is I was so jealous and insecure. I mean this gorgeous girl comes in and steals the eyes of my kindergarten crush," She laughed, "It was all truly silly. Can I hug you?"

Anne laughed and nodded, "Sure." The girls embraced and then walked to their next classes since lunch was almost over. In the hall, they'd bumped into Gilbert, who had the same class as Ruby next, "Where were you two?" The girls shrugged and Ruby answered, "Can't two friends hang out?" Gilbert looked skeptical, but shrugged it off. Why ruin a good thing?

The rest of the day seemed to fly by and quite honestly, Anne had never felt more at peace with where her head was at. She'd finally stopped worrying about Gilbert and what Ruby had thought of her. All of it seemed wonderful, as she opened the door to their apartment calling out, "I'm home!" And never in her life had she felt a truer sense of drowning.

"Matthew!"