Summer Shift We packed our bags in June Ibraced for a summer of impossible good byes and the dread of living without friends ever again To chase away the fear I flipped through a dictionary plucked out the word hush and thought about the whisper of wind rustling through leaves come next autumn and the silence of their falling Then I jumped into a soft deep pile of them grabbed an armful of red gold and burnt orange beauties tossed them into the air and I was all right again for a while and I went back to packing for the
Cheri The kids at my last school called me weird teased me or left me to myself Except for Cheri who picked me to sit next to in kindergarten just because she saw me staring out the window and was dying to know what made me smile when all she saw were raindrops I was shy about telling her at first but Cheri didn't mind my daydreaming She was color blind but said whenever I described my daydreams it was like helping her see the
Hope I hope this new school has a Cheri who'll think daydreamers are
First Day I duck down in the seat of my new class To these kids I'm not Gabby yet I'm just Shy Girl Who Lives Inside Her Head No one even knocks on the door for a visit They don't know it's beautiful in
