high school

they warned us for years about drinking and smoking
and pot
and crack and sex
they said,
someone is going to pressure you
to do these things
but you have to say no

no one ever asked me to do pot
or smoke or sleep with them.
am I not cool enough
to screw up?

they never warned us
about how your best friend would get a boyfriend
and ask you for advice for hours
but you wouldn’t know the answers

or how that quiet kid in your spanish class
would be smiling and normal on monday
then hang himself
go into a coma and die
right before mother’s day
they didn’t teach the ettiquette
for a candlelight vigil

no one told me
that no one would offer you a chance
to mess up in the big ways
no one told me
the things I needed to know

no one told me how to grow up