our town

the best our town
in the history of our towns
was when i played george
and sarah marie thompson
played emily
in ms. piotrowski's tenth grade english class.

we had recently broken up
after a steamy 6-month freshman romance
(or was it 7, i can never remember)
and we had barely made eye contact
and had not spoken
since.

the tension was palpable.
i was thrilled.
sarah might have been, too,
but she did a good job
hiding it.

friends now
who were classmates then
still talk about
the scene
over
the ice cream soda.

george's lines
were my lines
and
emily was
alive
until
she
wasn't.