I never could understand it
How people could get so sad on the last day of school
Isn’t it exciting? Aren’t you happy we get a break?
Well, I guess I used to
When I was young enough that school was only about friends, and cartwheels off the slide
When summer meant I had to make new friends and leave mine for three whole months
It felt like forever
But now it feels like it’s been forever since I felt like that
Since any of us did
Because now summer is a break, not a season
And for a while my smile would break like everyone’s when the clock ticked to three pm and we all
Ran - but not anymore.
Because now summer is not just a break from school
It’s a break from you
It’s three months where time change holds us further apart than we ever have been
It’s three months of waking up extra early to check my texts before you fall asleep
Three months of hoping for when I get back
Three months of wondering
Three months of planning
Three months of summer,
but not of you.
Penelope Ivy is a teenage writer and reader living in California. Her love and inspiration comes from her sisters and dogs. Her poem "Three Months" was based on her mixed feelings ending another year of highschool, though the story of the poem is fictional and not based on a personal experience.
