Bel Canto Choir:

Invite your crush to your very first concert.

Sing like you're already an opera singer,

like you deserve to be a freshman in the auditioned choir.

Be grateful that the lights are so bright

that you can't see the crowd.

Say “I love you” back after you meet your crush in the lobby.

Tell yourself this is the beginning of high school.

P.E.:

Don't swat his hand away when he tugs at your shorts.

Don't cover his mouth when he brags

about the things you did at the park.

Don't look up as the other girls whisper, “She's not even ashamed.”

Pretend you don't hear them or

see him smiling.

Honors Geometry:

Avoid detention by never being late,

but also avoid eye contact with the upperclassman

that just watched your boyfriend push you into a locker.

Use one of your four bathroom passes on a really bad day,

so you can run your hands under cold water

to make them stop shaking.

Then, go back to class and draw your cylinders

like nothing is the matter at all.

Honors English:

Rather than read it,

use your hardcover copy of Great Expectations

to cover your arms in bruises

that you will pretend are from his hands after he's gone.

It's so much more poetic to say that the marks are from Pip.

Your favorite part of the book will be that the blue roses on your skin

stand out even more

cradling a failed English exam.

Your parents will wonder how you went from a 4.0 to this.

Honors Biology:

Your mom will have to tell your teacher everything

about why you missed the most important days of class,

but Mr. H will let you make up the dissections

and you will defile the fetal pig's body,

breaking its jaw, removing its heart,

imagining how roughly he handled yours.

And you will get an A.