The lake is silent again
And then I speak.
"Are you ready for ninth grade?" I ask Ella.   
She shrugs.
"I'm not sure," she tells me.
"I tend to think I can handle anything.
But I mean, this is ninth grade!
Collages will start seeing our grades.
Classes are getting harder.
We're the underdogs on campus again.
It worries me a little."
Now I'm nervous.
If it worries Ella,
Who's scared of nothing,
It will terrify me.