by Emma Dalton
Chapter Six
As soon as I walk into the cafeteria on Friday, my eyes zero in on the jock table. At Brayden. Just like every day. But it’s different now. Because he and I shared an afternoon together.
I know, I know. It was all business. I bet he won’t even remember the encounter next week—maybe not even tomorrow. But I sure as heck will. I’ll remember it for the rest of my life. Because that’s the most time I’ll ever spend with a guy like him.
The lunch lady smiles as she hands me lunch, asking me how my day is going so far. She’s so sweet for asking. I tell her it’s going well, then pay for my lunch and walk away with my tray.
“Hey, Kara!” someone calls.
I scan around, but don’t see anyone. Maybe I was imagining it? I bet there’s another girl here with the name Kara. A popular girl. Shrugging, I head to my usual table at the side of the room.
“Kara Gander!”
Okay, I was definitely not imagining that.
I survey the room another time, and then I see them—barely. Three girls crowded around a small table at the back of the room. I can hardly see it because all the other tables and chairs, and the people sitting on them, block. Charlie’s waving frantically at me.
My cheeks lift in a ginormous smile. I almost forgot I have friends. I’m so used to sulking into the cafeteria alone. But I don’t have to do that anymore.
I hurry over with my tray and that ginormous smile still on my face. “Hey, guys!” I say as I slide into the seat next to Charlie. “We’ve seriously got to do something about this invisibility thing.”
“It’s the curse,” Dani says.
“Curse?” I ask as I cut into my grilled chicken.
Charlie rolls her eyes. “Dani thinks we’ve been hit with an invisibility curse on the day we were born.”
“How else would you explain why the kids here don’t see us? Even my teachers forget about me sometimes. It’s so annoying.”
“Who cares what they think?” Charlie mutters. She focuses on typing on the laptop in front of her.
“I don’t know about a curse,” I say as I bite into my chicken, “and I don’t know about you guys, but the reason I’m so invisible here is because I’m boring.”
“Plain and boring,” Dani says with a sigh as she tosses some of her dark hair over her shoulder. “You can be my twin.”
“I don’t think you’re boring,” a low voice says. “Either of you.”
I glance at Ally, who’s playing around with the peas on her plate.
“Thanks,” I say.
She gives me a shy smile.
“And you guys will never be boring in my book,” I continue. “You are officially my favorite people in the world.”
“Yay.” Dani claps enthusiastically. “I love making new friends!”
I laugh.
Her cheeks turn bright red. “Sorry. Ugh, I sounded like I’m five years old again. Awkward things are always coming out of me. You’ll have to excuse my stupid mouth.”
“From one awkward girl to another, I get you.”
She shakes her head. “No, you don’t get it. No one comes close to my awkwardness.”
“I’m the reigning champion,” I tell her.
“If you’d look up awkward in the dictionary, you’d find Danielle Wood there.”
I laugh again. “Are we seriously fighting over who’s more awkward?”
She thinks about it for a second and then laughs. “We are so weird.”
“Embrace the weird,” Charlie says as she continues to type.
I’m about to ask her what she’s so busy with, when there’s a commotion by the jock table. Two football players are balancing spoons on their noses. It seems there’s a competition whose will last longer.
My gaze immediately sprints to Brayden. He’s not watching them, he’s busy scrolling through his phone, brows deep in concentration. I wonder what he’s so serious about.
“You think there’s anything in their heads other than air?” Charlie says.
My head snaps in her direction. “You think all jocks are dumb?”
She nods in their direction. “They did the same thing in middle school.”
“Some are smart, though,” I say. “Like Brayden.”
She shrugs.
“I had an interview with him yesterday,” I inform her and my new friends. “He’s deeper than you’d think.”
Dani raises a brow. “You had an interview with Brayden? For what?”
“The school paper.”
“You’re on the paper?” Ally asks.
I roll my eyes. “Not again.”
Dani’s light up. “Of course! You’re Kara Gander. I always love reading your articles.”
Warmth enters my bloodstream. “You read my articles?”
“Yep. They’re so much deeper than some of the other articles. You can definitely write.”
It feels like my heart might burst out of my chest. “Thanks. That means a lot.”
“Why did you interview him, though?” Dani asks.
“Martina, our editor, wanted to get more kids interested in the paper, so she assigned me with digging under Brayden’s uniform to find the guy underneath.”
“And what did you find?” Ally asks.
My heart hammers in my chest as his handsome face and jaw-dropping blue eyes flash before my eyes. Trying to keep my voice steady, I say, “He’s sweet. Smart. Determined. And he’s such a good older brother. You’ll see in the next issue. It should come out in a couple of weeks.” A happy sigh escapes my lips as I replay the interview in my mind. Then I turn my head in his direction and find him chatting with his teammates. “He’s a total babe.” My eyes snap wide open. “I mean…”
“Oh my gosh, you like him!” Dani practically yells.
I motion with my hands. “Keep your voice down!”
Her hazel eyes light up like fire. “Of course you like him. He’s such a hottie.”
“I don’t like him,” I say. “I have a major, massive crush on him.” I groan and bury my face in my arms. “You don’t know how hard it was to interview him,” my muffled voice says. “I kept staring at him like some psycho, imagining what it would be like to kiss him…”
Dani whistles. “You’ve got it bad.”
“I know.” I lift my head and look from one girl to the other. “I’m so pathetic.”
“Why do you say that?” Ally’s soft words say.
“Because he’s a popular jock and I’m the Invisible Girl. He’s way out of my league.”
“That’s true,” Dani muses.
“It doesn’t have to be like that,” Ally argues. “Anything can happen.”
“I hate to break it to you, Ally, but this isn’t one of your romance books,” Dani tells her. “This is real life. And in real life, jocks go with cheerleaders and people like us end up with…not them.”
“The best we can do is salivate over them from afar,” I add.
Ally looks down at her plate and continues playing with her peas.
I glance back at the jock table. “It’s like they live in another world.”
“It’s fine,” Dani says with a sweet smile. “You’ve got us and the book club. We’re starting Wuthering Heights on Wednesday, okay?”
“Cool.”
I dig back into my grilled chicken. As far as school lunch goes, Edenbury High’s is all right. Not gourmet or anything, but the kids, thankfully, aren’t running off to the bathroom every day.
“Oh my gosh, do you hear that?” Dani grumbles. She glares at something, or someone, in the distance before narrowing her eyes back on her plate and stabbing her chicken. “My ears are bleeding.”
Ally smiles to herself while Charlie rolls her eyes and mutters, “Not again.”
“I’m not going to forget it that easily, you know,” Dani goes on. “Sue me if I hold grudges.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask.
“You don’t hear it?” Dani asks.
“Hear what?”
“The guy who’s laughing like an elephant?”
“What?”
She glares at one of the tables in the distance. “Him.”
I stare at all the other kids, but I don’t see anything. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Easton Knight,” Charlie explains.
“I had to give him a tour of the school on the first day,” Dani tells me. “He was a new student and the vice principal asked me to. He was such a jerk. Arrogant and cocky and so rude. I was sacrificing my time to welcome him to the school and make sure his transition was easy, and that was how he repaid me? Ugh, every time I think about it, I start to boil.”
Ally tries to hide a laugh.
Dani throws her a friendly glare. “It’s not funny.”
“It kind of is.”
“You’re getting worked up over nothing,” Charlie says. “He probably doesn’t even remember you.”
I look over to where he’s sitting at another popular table. Not with the jocks, but right next to it. They all are pretty friendly with one another, though.
“So not fair he’s a new kid and managed to fit in with the popular kids while we’re invisible,” I say.
“What do you expect when you’re a frickin’ billionaire?” Dani mutters.
“You’re saying he bought his friends?” I ask.
“No. I’m saying money gives you status.”
I sigh as I fall back against my chair. “And that’s why we live in another world.”
“Why do the three of you constantly talk about them?” Charlie asks as she continues typing on her laptop. “Who wants to be popular anyway?”
“You’re telling me you’re fine being invisible and not cool?” I ask.
She lifts her shoulders. “I don’t care what other people think.”
“I wish I were like that,” I say.
She shrugs as she continues to type.
“What are you typing so frantically anyway?” I ask.
“English paper. I have to get it done before lunch is over.”
“You forgot to do your homework? Sucks. Need help? English is my favorite subject.”
“It’s not for me,” she mumbles as her fingers fly over the keys. “It’s for Macy.”
Macy? As in one of the cheerleaders? I glance at their table and find her and Teagyn checking their makeup in their compact mirrors.
Turning back to Charlie, I say, “Those jerks are bullying you into doing their homework?”
Her hands pause over the keys as she pastes her eyes on me. “No one forces me to do anything. It’s not my fault the teachers here don’t give enough work.” And she continues to type.
Huh? I look between Dani and Ally. “Wait, did she just say she’s doing extra homework for fun?”
With a grin, Dani throws her arm around Charlie. “That’s Charlie. Our resident nerd.”
“A crown I wear proudly, thank you very much.”
“Wow,” I breathe. “That’s amazing. You must be a genius.”
“I don’t do labels.”
“You can be like a rocket scientist.”
“I do plan to work for NASA,” she informs me.
My mouth falls open.
We resume eating, talking about our classes, when heels tap on the floor. Glancing up, I find Teagyn passing our table. She stops and grins at us, wide and fake. “Oh look,” she says, mockery in her tone. “It’s the invisible loser table.”
Dani’s mouth opens and gibberish starts flowing out. It’s as if she’s desperately trying to form a coherent sentence but is failing miserably.
Teagyn bursts out in laughter.
Charlie’s eyes sprint from her laptop to the head cheerleader. “Well, we can’t be that invisible if you see us, can we?”
Teagyn snorts before whirling around and marching to the popular table, heels clacking on the floor.
“Darn it,” Dani grumbles as she tears her fingers in her hair. “I hate how weird and awkward I get with people like her. People I’m not comfortable with. I just freeze up and can’t defend myself.”
I give her an understanding smile. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“Good thing we have Charlie, huh? She’s not afraid to speak her mind.”
“Yep, someone had to put her in her place. Good, I finally finished the paper.” She closes the laptop and stands. “Going to the library to print it. See you guys later.”
I stare after her with my jaw practically sweeping the floor. Then I turn back to the others. “How much is Macy paying her?”
“Nothing,” Dani says. “Charlie claims getting paid for it defeats the purpose. I don’t really get what she means by that.”
“She wants to do it for fun,” Ally explains. “If she gets paid, it’s no longer fun. It’s work.”
“A rare breed, indeed,” Dani says with a laugh. “But we love her.”
“Maybe hanging around her might rub off on me,” I say. “I can do with caring less what people think of me.”
Dani waves her hand. “Been there, done that. Her nonchalance has not rubbed off on me, and we’ve been friends since last year.”
“Oh. Bummer.”
“It’s okay to want to be seen, you know,” Dani says. “It’s okay to care what other people think.”
“But it’s silly to think I could ever be popular,” I say.
She twists her nose. “Probably. I mean, we’re juniors. We’ve been invisible since the first day of ninth grade. What could change that? Other than a meteor strike.”
“No meteor strikes in the foreseeable future,” Ally says.
“That’s okay,” I say with a smile. “I have you guys now. And that’s better than any guy, or popularity.”
Both of them return the smile.
As we continue to eat and chat, my eyes trek to the jock table again. I know, I just said I don’t need a guy when I have these awesome girls, but I lose all control when Brayden is concerned. Or maybe my silly heart thinks he and I established some sort of connection because of the interview. I mean, he divulged something slightly personal to me. But it’s ridiculous to think that means anything.
I catch sight of Charlie walking back into the cafeteria with what looks like the printed paper. She steps up to the popular table and hands it to Macy. She barely looks at Charlie as she grabs it and tucks it into her bag. Then a few other cheerleaders and jocks pass forward other assignments to Charlie.
When she returns to our table, she’s beaming like she just struck gold. “I have so much work for tonight!” she gushes.
“A rare breed, indeed,” I say with a laugh. I’m starting to love her and the others already.
The bell rings. We get up with our trays and start making our way to the garbage area. Just as I’m about to deposit my tray along with the others, I hear a “Woops!” and then someone bangs into me, knocking me into the small table that holds the discarded trays.
“Sorry!” Dani says. “That was me tripping over my feet. I’m such a klutz.”
“Are you okay?” I ask her.
“Yep. It’s just a typical day in the life of Danielle Wood. It happens so often it doesn’t even faze me anymore.” She shrugs. “I am what I am.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I assure her.
She offers me a thankful smile.
“Let’s walk together to our lockers,” she suggests.
As we do, Ally asks me, “Are you going to the game tonight?”
“Brayden’s QB. So that would be a heck yes.”
She laughs softly.
“What about you guys?” I ask.
“We’ve attended games in the past, but it’s not really our thing. We usually get together at one of our houses.”
“Oh.” I kind of feel like I’m being left out. I just became friends with them and already I feel rejected.
“We can go to the game and then hang out after,” Dani suggests. “No, that’ll be too late and my mom will kill me. Tomorrow, then?”
> “Really?” I ask. Then I realize how desperate I sound and mentally kick myself.
“Sure,” she says with a smile. “You’re part of the group now.”
“Thanks, guys. You have no idea how much this means to me.”
“Actually, we do,” Charlie says. “We were exactly like you before we formed the book club.”
“Whose idea was it?” I ask.
“Mine,” Dani says. “I didn’t really have any friends and figured there had to be at least one person I could be friends with. And you know the best way to make friends is to find common ground.”
The bell rings.
“Darn,” I groan. “I wish we had more classes together.”
“Same,” Ally says.
“We’ll meet at the game?” Dani asks.
“That’s cool with me,” Charlie says.
Ally nods and I give them a thumbs up.
As I head to my next class, I want to skip like a little kid. Because finally since my mom’s death, things are starting to look up.
Chapter Seven
Brayden
Nerves. They’re kind of a funny thing. Butterflies in your stomach or ants crawling all over your body or knees knocking into one another…whatever it is, they can seriously drive a guy insane. The fact that I have nerves makes me even more nervous. But my mom always says having nerves before an important event is a good thing because it means you care. If you didn’t care, you wouldn’t be nervous. That’s why I know football is the right path for me. The only path.
The interview with Kara Gander yesterday has me thinking all day. I never really gave thought to what my life would be like if I didn’t have football. Would I still be…me? I’m not that naïve or cocky to assume I’d have the same friends. That people would like me. Sometimes I wonder if my friends are my real friends or if we’re just tight because we’re on the football team. Then I tell myself to stop philosophizing. I’m a high school kid trying to keep his crap together. I don’t have time to ponder whether or not my friends are true or not.
“Captain!” Jerry slaps my back as the team and I get ready in the locker room. “Ready to smoke Barefield?”
“You bet,” I say.
“Can’t wait to see the look on their faces when we wipe the ground with them,” DeAngelo says. He slams a fist into his other palm. “I’ve been wanting to slap that smile off their faces since they beat us last year.”