I went on a trip with my school
Stayed in a hotel for a week
Me and two of my friends got put into a room with a boy
From the other side of the social divide
He was pretty, he was clever, he was good at sports
Real golden child
My pals and I, were always the scrappy weirdos
We never hung out with the kind of kid and they never paid us any attention
They were like the celebrities in our world
The bright young things
Even though he was friendly to us
I was still intimidated by his beauty and his popularity
One night when he went out
I drew a cruel picture of him
As an awkward feeble creature
With a big nose, knock knees and spots all over him
Really it was a picture of me
I projected all the awful ways I saw myself
Onto this ridiculous being with his face
I showed to my friends and we laughed
It was only ever meant for our entertainment
But the next morning, in an unfathomable act of carelessness
I showed him the drawing
Maybe I thought he would somehow find it funny
But he crumbled and started to cry
I was astonished, I thought he was so perfect
That he could never be affected by anything someone like me could do
But he collapsed onto the bed, sobbing
Didn't come out of the room for a really long time
The teachers had to go find him
When he eventually reappeared, he didn't say anything about it
We never spoke about it again
I hope he's forgotten the hurt
I'll always be ashamed