Amy e. Sprinkle
"Lift your feet, everybody!"
my friends giggled as they bounced
along the bumpy highway
in their green seats trimmed in white.
The cheeriness of the yellow bus,
overcrowded with second graders,
set a contrast to the chaos
in my upset tummy.
After hitting the bump,
my stomach turned.
Before I could swallow it,
my food spewed from my mouth.
Finding myself emptied,
Embarassment filled the void
My stomach once filled.
Everyone saw my Twinkies
mixed with paper airplanes
and snack wrappers
on the dirty floor.
Wearing my Twinkies,
Shanna looked mad at me.
Sporting her new raincoat,
a bright blue and pink,
she wiped herself clean
with white tissues from her purse.
Wondering if we'd ever be friends again,
I moved away from her anger.
I curled up in the front seat
where Mrs. Grubich made me sit.
Wanting my mommy's comfort,
Bus driver Jim said it would be okay.
He'd put down sawdust after we left,
but he couldn't cover my misery.
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(c) 1999 Amy e. Sprinkle. All rights reserved.
Appears in Schools of Verse: An Anthology of Poetry About School, Fall 1999.