Leaving Part 1

We were teenage girls
crowding shoulder to shoulder
spreading gossip and lip gloss
in the busy corridor between bellsI watched
from outside the circle
uninvolved in the banter between
and realized how little it mattered
my being thereas if fate
had written a resolution to my insecurity
I signed my name to the dotted line
desperate to rid myself
of the indifferent nature
sixteen had to offer

I explained to my parents
for no other reason
than not wanting to be average
I was about to leave their nest
travel halfway across the world
and prove to myself
I was better.