There are the queens
Who are labelled as “cool”
They strut through the halls
And enforce their own rules

There are the kings
Who play all the sports
And search every room
For a damsel to court

There are the scholars
Referred to as “geeks”
They have much wisdom to share
If they are allowed to speak

And then there is a girl
Who is rarely seen in the halls
She is barely ever noticed
And seems plastered to the walls

She keeps her head down
And never raises her hand
How she blends in so easily
Is hard to understand

I don’t know her name
I’d never asked
It had never occurred to me
How many times I’d passed

That girl in the halls
Who sat out at the dance
Who never was picked
Was never given a chance

She was never accepted
And was simply outlawed
A “queer” in the eyes
Of those who didn’t see her at all

Then one day
Tuesday I believe
The school received an announcement
The worst one I’d received

That one girl
Whom we’d all passed in the halls
Had been shot down
By a misfortune in the mall

The queens put on a face
The kings shifted around
But I lowered my eyes
And stared at the ground

I felt guilty
For reasons barely known
It wasn’t my fault after all
But there were things I could control

I could have said “Hi”
Or given a smile
I could’ve invited her
To sit with us for a while

But I didn’t
And I wish I would’ve
Because she is gone now
And I still could’ve

Said ‘hello” to the girl
Who clung to the walls
Or offered my hand
As a friend in the halls

I chewed on my lip
Now really unnerved
For I had things
That she might’ve deserved

I had good friends
Members of my team
To pick me up when I fell
And help me follow my dreams

But did someone pick her up
When she fell for the last time
A bullet in her body
From a madman’s crime?

Did somebody catch her
Before she hit the ground?
Or did they simply keep going
Like she wasn’t around?

That’s what we did in the halls
We did it every day
That poor wallflower girl
I didn’t even know her name