Walking down the hallway on a warm Monday morning. Hearing all of the chatter of the students, all the laughs all the voices. She walked with her head low as she shouldered her backpack and walked towards her classroom. Her footsteps on the wooden floor was all she heard. Her footsteps drowned all the other noises. Another sound of footsteps brought her back to reality. Her head jerked up and she came face to face with a boy. They locked eyes and he walked away.
Her heart sank. Tears threatened to fall to the ground. She trusted him yet he couldn’t see her. He wouldn’t acknowledge her existence. He was once her friend. Someone she could trust and she still did. He used to smile at her brightly, speak to her in a childish voice about cartoons and nonsense. He would sing the alphabet in an off-key voice which would make her laugh. He was popular and smart. She was just the artist. A lot of girls liked him and she hid behind mischief and snarkiness. She was afraid of falling in love with him. She knew if she did, he would reject her.
Even hiding behind her mask is no good. He seemed to look right through her. She felt exposed and raw in front of him because his eyes would pierce into hers as if he was reading her. During the rest of their 6th grade, she wished she knew he would end up with the cool kids. The kids who were out of her league just as he was. Ever since, he wouldn’t acknowledge her. She was just like an imaginary friend. Someone he used to laugh with. Someone she gave her drawings to. And someone she trusted with her life. She felt shattered. She knew that by seeing him look at her made her hurt herself all over again. “You should forget him,” said her best friend. Yet she couldn’t. She was invisible to him. She was a forgotten memory at the back of his head along with the drawings she made that he kept.
But she still trusted him.