Here is Francesca J’s winning poem from our school’s Reading Week

I’ve always cheered for the villains. 

I loved hearing their stories that have made them cruel, hard and tough. 

With walls built up so high no one can get in, no one was ever enough.

Yeah, I have always fantasised about being the one that breaks in 

There is something about a villain when he kneels down and crumbles for the one he loves, letting them within and exposing their sin,

 even the thought of that gives me chills and goosebumps.

 The hero has a story with details, he’s heard and validated. 

The hero is adored, loved and praised by everyone but the villain? 

Well… 

The villain has a beautiful, tragic story that no one seems to understand 

and I guess I relate to it so much that I fell for something like that. 

I mean I am a poet because words on paper are more heard and understood 

than I on earth ever could.

 A hero would sacrifice her to save the world because the greater good is what matters,  

but a villain would tear the world apart in a heartbeat, make everything before him shatter; 

because she is the greater good and the only one that matters.  

So he treats her like a queen and betrothed her by his side. 

A villain is a soul that was broken once, 

twice, 

and a thousand times…

So he understands and loves every inch of her wounds, curves, scars and cries

So I’ve always fantasised about being understood by the most misunderstood and misjudged, 

of experiencing love with the unloved, 

of expressing emotions with a so-called ‘cold hearted’.

I know that she must be so unique for him to let her in 

because it can only be her and only her for him 

that the universe has chosen among everything.

And I’m not a ‘pick me’ girl but I’ve never felt chosen. 

I will contradict you when you tell me that you love me, 

If I give you a million reasons to leave, I will stand there frozen, 

And need one million and one reasons why you will keep choosing me. 

And if the world throws billions of reasons to hate me,

I need to know one of the one million reasons is strong enough to keep on loving me. 

And that is the way a villain chooses her over and over again, 

against all odds, always not just now and then,

I guess that’s why I fantasise about being her. 

I guess that’s why I find myself choosing the villain.

I know that he would do anything to make me happy and to see me smile, 

even if it means tearing the world apart and being hostile,

or suffering himself 

 making others see him as vulnerable 

when all he has done in his life is show how tough and heartless he is.

He would do anything for her and her happiness

Even deal with all her crappiness.

Making her feel special and unique,

Even if it means that he has to show himself weak.

All of the above 

can be defined as love,

But happiness leads to love

 and love leads to happiness,

Whether it is with friends

Or a relationship which you wish never ends.