Take it to Heart

I stood. On the side. When you have a star. For a sister. It’s hard to shine. Held up. To her bar. And not your own. Was hard. And so. I still stood. On the side. But one day.

“Hey, Jack.” I looked. Behind me. It was my teacher. I walked back to her. It was the end of class. And she was calling me back. But why?

“I liked your essay. Care to tell me what gave you the idea?” I looked at her. She was smiling. And said.

“I found a post. On a blog, that gave me the idea.” She looked put down. Like she could see through my lie. Lies. Fake picture. Of me. Shown as the slacker, the cheater. So I could get away. From the image of the star.

“Oh.” Her once pretty smile had now turned into an unhappy frown.

“Can I go now?” She frowned more.

“Yes, Jack, you may go.” She turned back to her desk. Picked up the class attendance sheet. And crossed out my. Name.

“Hey, Jack?” I was halfway to the door.

“Yes?”

“Which blog?” I didn’t know. What to say. So.

“I forget.” I walked out of the room.

I wondered. What she would have said. Had I said the truth. And tried to rise. From my pit of lies. To keep me away. From what I thought. Would have been failure.

The next day I got a note. From her. It said.

I never forgot her name. And I still keep her note to this day. It serves as a reminder to me. That no matter. How high others might reach. You can still reach. And even. If you don’t reach them. It won’t matter. Because you will still have tried your best. And you might think. That this is dumb. Something your. Parents would say. But take it to heart.


by Marizo Bheh