how do i verse???

6:21 PM

Reid Callahan

What do you have so far?

6:22 PM

N O T H I N G

6:22 PM

Ok so first you open Word

6:23 PM

Then you type words

6:23 PM

Maybe, if you’re feeling crazy, they’ll rhyme????

6:23 PM

I close out of our messages. Reid is useless. I don’t know why I expected more from him. We called a truce. But still. One great afternoon away from Natalie vs. Reid doesn’t erase the reality that Reid is still… Reid.

“You okay?” Mom asks.

I close my laptop screen halfway. “How does one verse?”

Mom laughs. “I’m a novelist for a reason.”

I brush my hair out of my face. “Fair.”

“You already wrote this, Lee. The bones are there. Trust yourself.”

I close my laptop and flail my limbs across the futon. “How’s the romcom coming?”

Mom sighs. “I don’t know. I’m grading during writing time. So.”

“Not today?”

Mom shakes her head. “Not today.”

I am also an unproductive potato and the minutes become hours, staring at a blank screen while Mom is going to town with her red pen. The major poem isn’t happening. Not today. I should call it and study for any one of the three tests I have tomorrow.

I stand.

“Leaving already?” Mom asks. “Can I help? Brainstorm session?”

I shake my head. “Not today.”

Mom nods. “That happens. And it’s okay. There’s always tomorrow.”

I’m struck by the optimism in Mom’s voice. Even when writer’s block stretches from days to weeks to months to years… there’s always tomorrow. It came in the form of a grad school romcom inspired by her students. Instead of letting the block defeat her, she insists it’s temporary. It always is.

But I’m still not sure the lows are worth the fleeting moments of inspiration.

“Thanks, Mom.”

Upstairs, I flop onto my bed and my phone buzzes on my stomach with a new text from Reid. I click it, expecting more snark. But it’s not words, it’s a beat—steady, constant. I close my eyes and imagine Fitz, center stage as Adina, scared and exhausted. The beat accelerates—and it is Adina, finding her voice. Accepting her powers. Acknowledging that in some cases it is better to burn it all down and start over.

My phone buzzes again.

Reid Callahan

I’ve said it before, but you can’t think of it as a monologue.

10:21 PM

It’s still a song-ish. You have to feel it. It needs a beat.

10:21 PM

I know I’m attached to Keep It In the same way you’re attached to Moritz… but maybe there is something in the rhythm of the song we can salvage.

10:22 PM

It might be easier than starting from scratch.

10:22 PM

I consider Reid’s idea.

For the first time, I see the poem.

And I FaceTime Reid.