Poetry picture book: words only

Cara and I
Met in the 1st grade
I had moved here
From Japan
And my dad
Made me wear my old uniform
The one from Japan
No one wanted to talk to me
Except Cara


We were best friends from the moment we met
We sat together
Under the bleachers
At the football field
With bags of m&ms
And talked
For hours
We did our homework
Pressed against each other's backs
I did the math
And Cara did the writing

On Saturday nights
I'd put my head in her lap
And read out loud
In the morning
We'd eat waffles
**************************************************************************

In the beginning
Of the 5th grade
Cara's mom
Put her on a diet
Cara hated it
So I snuck her candy
I had never thought about it before
But Cara wasn't skinny like I was
I had lots of other friends
And Cara
Had me

At home Cara was fed grapefruit
And cottage cheese
At my house she got cake
And mini-muffins

Zack from school noticed
And he told her tart only pigs
Ate so much candy
She put down the m&ms
The next day
She gave me her lunch
"Maemie?"
"Mhmm?"
"Am I fat?"
"No, eat your desert,
I ate everything else."
She took her pudding cup
And Zack said she was a fatty

No one ate lunch near us
Anymore
And  I didn't say
Anything

Zack would pinch her during class
And I didn't say
Anything

Cara stopped eating lunch
And I didn't say
Anything

Cara wanted to come over after school
And I didn't say
Anything

I didn't want to loose my friends
'Cause I was spending time with Cara
So
I didn't spend time
With Cara
I didn't eat lunch with Cara
I didn't say
Sorry
I didn't say
Anything

Zack said that now
Cara was a fatty
With no friends

Dean said
That she was so ugly
Even I
Didn't want to
Look at her
Cara didn't eat lunch
And when I asked her why
She said
She wasn't hungry
She hated food
She hated being fat
And I didn't say
Anything

We didn't spend any time together
Anymore
And I was glad
Because I wasn't friends with
"The Fat Girl"

No one else
Wanted to be friends with her
Why should I?
But I still felt
Bad

Cara wasn't in school
For 5 days
Then she came back
And I dint say
Anything

At lunch
Cara sat
Alone
And cried
And I didn't say
Anything

Carter said
"Zack was right."
And that Cara shouldn't have come back
Everyone
Hated her

That night
I asked my dad
If a girl at school
was being teased
By some boys
And I was sort of friends with her
But I was scared no one wold be friends with me
If I was
What should I do?

And my dad said
To stand up for her
So I said I would

The next day at lunch
I sat with Cara
And when Zack
And Dean
and Carter
Said
I should stay away from Cara
I said I'd rather die

They said Cara was fat
And if I was friends with her
No one would be friends with me
And I said to leave Cara alone

They said I
Was just as stupid and ugly
As Cara
And I said
That 100 of them would never be as good
As one Cara
*******************************************************************************

We sat together
Under the bleachers
At the football field
With bags of m&ms
And talked
For hours
We did our homework
Pressed against each other's backs
I did the math
And Cara did the writing

On Saturday nights
I'd put my head in her lap
And read out loud
In the morning
We'd eat waffles

The End