Best Friends

The halls of my school are teaming with students.

Groups of them gather around each other

And nowhere is safe from the clutches of these groups.

Tables, hallways, classrooms, the library.

They are everywhere, and I was one of them.

Surrounded by people, yet I feel alone.

My best friend has no eyes for me anymore.

I don’t remember the last time I was with them outside of school.

I didn’t come to school one day

And no one asked about it.

No one is alone in the hallways

Or in the classrooms

Or in the library.

And neither was I.

Maybe that’s why I stayed for so long.

The fear of being alone

Of isolation.

Maybe I was scared of not being needed

Or wanted.

Maybe I was scared of leaving my friends

And knowing they wouldn’t care.

But I left.

I was no longer part of a cluster.

I was no longer one of the many within a group.

I was alone

And they didn’t care.

But then I realized

Neither did I.