I Was Wrong
A song about a kid who was sure their friend took their pencil, and what happens between being sure, finding out the truth, and the moment the new fact slides in.
I was sure it was Theo. I was SURE. My blue pencil — bite mark and all — GONE from my desk. So I knew.
I told Marcus at recess. I told Sam too. "Theo took it. He's done it before." Sam said, "You sure?" I said, "I'm SURE." I gave Theo a hard look across the floor.
I was sure I was sure And I was sure And I was wrong
Funny how when you're sure of a thing, Every little thing fits the thing you're sure of. He's quiet today — must be guilty. I built the whole case in my head.
After school I yanked my backpack hard. Out fell a pencil. Blue. Bite mark. It rolled across the floor and stopped at my shoe. My chest went hot. Whole-face hot.
I had put it there. After lunch. I remember now. I did that. Me. Not Theo. And I had been telling people he stole it.
I was sure I was sure And I was sure And I was wrong
The next morning I waited at his locker. "I told people you took my pencil. You didn't. I had it the whole time. I'm sorry." He looked at me a long time. Then, "Okay."
He didn't make it easy. He didn't make it hard. He just said okay and went to homeroom. That was harder than if he'd been mad.
The pencil on the floor was a fact. The fact didn't argue. It just sat there. The story I'd been so sure of had to leave.
I was sure I was sure And I was sure And I was wrong And the pencil was in my own backpack the whole time
The blue pencil with the bite mark. Sitting on my desk. Where it actually lives.