Forget Me Not Read Online Free

at my school.
    She came to stay with us when Mom left,
    to help take care of me, she told my father.
    It was true, I guess, but she also needed
    a place to stay after her third stint in rehab.
    She loves her vodka. About the only thing
    she and Mom have in common.
    Dad finally got tired of her and bought her
    a one-way ticket to an old-folks home—
    in Florida.
    So what in the world is she doing here
    at my school, yelling at the school principal?

LUNCH WITH THE IN CROWD
    The bell rings and kids flood onto the quad for lunch.
    Darla Johnson and the other girls from the dance team
    sit at a series of picnic benches reserved for the athletes.
    When I told Brianna
    the first week of school
    that I was supposed to eat lunch
    with the Ravenettes,
    she went ballistic.
    “You can’t be serious,” she said,
    her face turning the color of her eggplant sandwich.
    “You can come too,” I said,
    but I knew she’d never go anywhere near her brother
    or the other jocks.
    “I’ll pass,” she told me.
    She was in a bad mood because
    the drama teacher had told her
    she didn’t need an assistant director
    for the play. She tried to talk me
    into boycotting the tryouts
    and the performance,
    but I refused.
    Bri grabbed her sack lunch
    and started to leave,
    but then turned back around.
    “By the way,
    that eye shadow makes you look
    like a hooker.”
    I was so mad, I couldn’t see straight.
    But mostly I was glad
    that she refused to come with me,
    because it’s hard to create a new image
    when you have old friends
    who keep trying to hold you back.

THINGS GOT WEIRD
    between Bri and me
    after that.
    I had dance practice
    every afternoon.
    Bri starting hanging
    with the Goths,
    and the only time I saw her
    was when I came over
    late on Friday to spend the night.
    It took her a while
    to figure out
    that the person
    I really came to see
    was Davis.
    I guess that’s when
    she decided
    to ruin my life.

I SEE ELIJAH
    walking across the courtyard,
    with Bri following behind him.
    He stops and looks up at me
    as I stand
    in the window.
    I step back
    into the darkness.
    Did he see
    me?
    Does he know
    I’m here?
    Does he ever think
    about that night at
    the end of eighth grade
    when we played Truth or Dare?
    He was so shy and sweet
    and I thought about him
    for days afterward,
    but he never called.
    Then I hooked up
    with Davis.
    Does Elijah remember
    that night,
    or did he forget
    about it like I forgot
    about it
    and everything else?

THIRD LUNCH
    starts at 12:35.
    I see
    Elijah.
    He carries
    a slice of pizza.
    Sits at a table
    next to Oscar Smith,
    who is in a wheelchair.
    Oscar uses a small
    computer to communicate,
    because he can’t talk.
    He can’t press the buttons
    too well either, because his hands
    are clenched in perpetual fists,
    but he has a bright orange pencil
    clutched in his hand
    that he uses to press the keys.
    Elijah is a student aid
    in Oscar’s special ed class.
    I wonder if that’s why
    he eats with Oscar
    or if it’s because
    Elijah
    doesn’t have any friends.
    I know
    how terrible it feels
    to walk out
    onto the quad
    filled with a thousand
    other students
    and not have a
    single person to sit with.
    To be friendless
    in a crowd
    is the worst
    kind
    of
    loneliness.

WILLY J
    Will Jones, Davis’s best friend,
    stays out on the quad
    for First Lunch, then Second
    Lunch, then Third.
    There are certain people
    security doesn’t mess with.
    He walks past a freshman,
    grabs the pizza right
    out of his hands, and keeps
    on walking.
    Will devours everything
    but the crust in one bite.
    He uses the remaining bread
    to lure the pigeons.
    When one of them gets
    close enough, he kicks it
    just for fun.
    Blood and feathers go flying.
    Is that what Darla
    is doing to Davis?
    Luring him in,
    only to destroy him?
    Like she did to me.
    I shudder when I remember
    how I let Will
    touch me,
    just because I wanted
    to make Davis jealous.
    It was Darla’s idea
    to set me up
    with him for homecoming.
    Too late I realized