Skyscraping by Cordelia Jensen

Author:Cordelia Jensen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2015-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

BARELY SWERVING

Streets covered in snow.

Dylan says we should ski down the West Side.

The ultimate cutting.

We jet after Astro.

On the bus he says

he feels like something is up with me,

that he’s here if I need to talk,

I’ve always been such a good listener,

he holds my hand.

His fingers are cold and bony.

I tell him I don’t want to talk—

just ski.

He says sometimes not talking

is better anyway.

He squeezes my hand again.

Like I’m going to make out with him or something.

We clip our boots into our skis,

use our poles to navigate city blocks.

A station wagon stops short.

I barely swerve around it.

He grabs my elbow, cheeks red

as his winter jacket.

Snow stuck to his hair, peeking out of

his woolly hat.

Tells me I need to be careful.

I tell him actually he does,

throw a snowball at his head.

I think about playing tag with him at recess,

how he would always let me win.

For a minute,

I almost tell him the truth.

But the light flicks

from red to green,

I go,

touch his shoulder,

say you’re it.

We ski down the West Side,

not thinking about the school I’m missing,

Yearbook, my parents, my sister,

just move across the city

as the snow falls

blurring the beige lines

of every

single

standing

building.

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