When I pictured going cross country, I didn't picture being quite so dirty. Murphy had booked us a hotel for the night so that we could clean up and hopefully nap before the contest. Even so, I was hot and greasy, which is never how you want to be described.
We were actually making excellent time, and were set to arrive in San Diego. Of course, because we were making excellent time, Murphy thought it was the perfect time to veer off course.
"You know, we still have to find you something to wear up on that stage." She looked me over disapprovingly. "I don't know if the hipster community is really into knee-length cargo pants. No matter how efficient. That and besides, they're starting to smell pretty bad." Upon seeing my indignant look she gestured at herself, "Look, I didn't say I smelled better, I just said that you're the one getting up on stage."
"Murphy, I can't get up on that stage. I don't have anything to say."
"Shouldn't you be writing it, then?"
This was a very good point, but I expertly countered by getting writer's block.
"I don't have anything to write about."
"Write about anything."
"No, Murphy, it has to be, like-" I floundered for a little while, trying to express the kind of topic that was needed to write a good poem. Murphy put her hand over my mouth, and I finally thought for a couple seconds before reopening it. "It has to be traumatic. There's no good poems about going to the store, but there's plenty of good ones about your mother not loving you."
"Are you trying to say you don't have enough pain for poetry? Because you're 17 and a half and feel like you've never made a choice. You're going to commit your entire life to a path that your parents chose for you. Isn't that traumatic enough?"
"But I don't want to think about that. I don't want to say that to strangers-" My voice cracked.
"Then don't think about it, Devon. You don't have to. This isn't a science, there's not rules. Write something that's not traumatic. Write something that nobody will expect. And make it good."
Suddenly, my pencil hit the paper.
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YOU ARE READING
Us Versus the World
JugendliteraturDevon is a senior in high school, and she's never really made a decision for herself. So she decides to take a risk before she goes to college to become a data analyst. As she travels cross-country with a girl she barely knows, she starts to realize...
