The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime that Changed Their Lives (2017)

Richard’s section of the story begins with “Book of Faces,” a poem describing pictures of himself he has posted to Facebook. In each, Slater describes how she sees Richard in two lines, then ends the poem with these lines:

None of it captures

how he looks in conversation 

How his eyes hold your eyes,

seeing you see him.

His own secret power:

that paying attention (60).

Next is “First Day,” another poem, this time about the sights and smells and sounds of the first day at school, not all of which are pleasant: “sweat, fryer grease,/body spray, reeking bathrooms, weed/smoke, morning breath” (61). The poem ends with the lines “That smell is the pungent eraser that wipes/ the whiteboard clean, so just/ignore the ghosts of last year’s scrawl/still there, still showing through” (61).

“An Old Friend” introduces Cherie, a “head-turningly pretty” (62) classmate of Richard’s. She sums up Richard by saying “He got on my nerves but I loved him to death” (63). 

“Oakland High School” presents Richard’s high school as a study in contrasts, where there were options to “steer clear” of trouble, but also plenty to be had: “a girl trying to slit her wrists in the bathroom, a fight in the hallway” (65).