[165 words]
There were six of us in Alicia’s living room.
Some of us sat cross-legged,
others lay on their bellies,
propped up on their elbows,
feet kicked up and waving behind
while we watched the singers
performing on American Idol.
Sarah was the fastest typer,
so one of us held the handle of the telephone
while she dialed away.
We had already gotten the busy signal
at least a dozen times,
but we swore we wouldn’t stop
until our vote went through.
Eventually, we got distracted
by someone’s confession
of a crush on an 8th grade boy,
the one who had blonde-tipped spiky hair,
just like the members of our favorite boy band,
followed by another girl saying she liked him too,
then a spirited debate about whether it was fair
to call dibs on a boy in the first place.
I don’t remember what time we fell asleep,
but in the morning, I woke up to Sarah’s snoring
and Alicia’s arm falling across my face.
Caitlin O’Halloran is a biracial Filipino-American poet living in Rochester, New York. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Boston University in Philosophy and History. Her work has been published in Vast Chasm Magazine, The Basilisk Tree, and Remington Review. www.caitlinohalloran.com
