A THING by LINSEY LIAO
i hate boarding school
1. Field
Dirty socks and fields wet from dew sliding down strands of grass and sinking into the warm soil Ambiguous rules to a happily pointless game Thrifted sweatshirts and 3$ necklaces Back-guarding to not get attacked from behind Sweaty bodies colliding together like planets Darkening sky and Faint yellow ball Net on quad and phone speakers blasting music Defying gravity by reaching for the curves of the sky Wistful crying during 3:00 am study sections Listening to lofi music 12:30 at night Smell of cigarettes and flowers and newspaper and bodywash swirled together into a big pot of teenage blood
1. Summer
Dangly superstitious jade bracelets 24/7 walking around in a big t-shirt looking like a big t-shirt walking around Half closed eyeballs and droopy eyelids Hot water bottle filled with pu-erh tea splashing around Fists sweaty and clenched carrying the 5-bucks amethyst health rock I brought from Hidden Gem on Main Comfortable silences and falling asleep together Being carried by furry dark-green slippers all across campus iPad playing Kodak black in chemistry without demand Looking like a sloth-capybara mixed breed Simplistically content from existing Soft checks and pretty teeth a body filled with love
1. Dorm
Half-open windows peeking from the basement Chittering children 7:20am every morning Plush green grass spread in a carpet Big black dog that answers to her name and fetches back sticks wet from drool footsteps Clonking down the stairs and knocking on purple doors Stomping feet and explosive laughter Stuck-on mirrors and wet tiles in the bathroom Holding hands with nails painted black Warm cuddles after midnight on a school day Scattered items that make people trip and fall all over the carpeted floor Sunlight pouring liquid gold all over broken curtains Thickly-foamed Japanese-brand face cleanser slobbered on every morning Showers that turn a little hot after twisting handle too far to the left Borrowed tees and sweatshirts that smell of detergent Shared playlists with too many Lorde songs
1. Math building
Upstairs cafe that opens at 7:30 and close at 4 diluted Americano not always filled to the top Glass windows that reflect your figure on evenings takeouts sent to Archbold circle in brown paper bags Rushing to claim territory Saturday nights Room 214 with the broken projector locked doors past 8 hysterical laughter and loud crying clumpy mascara and tinted loose powder Never Have I Ever and Who’s most likely to moving wheeled-tables that take two hours to re-assemble leaving to East building 8 minutes before curfew and leaving to West in 3
Linsey Liao (she/her) is a wannabe hippie from Brooklyn, New York. She’s an adrenaline junky and the ultimate sucker for vignettes, romance, indie music and sake. She’s attempting to get a B.A. from NYU with a minor in creative writing. In her spare time, she’s either playing the electrical bass or editing for Polyphony Lit and Washington Square News.