The Unseen

Winner

My day starts like any normal school day. I wear a pair of skinny jeans and a layered purple tee. My hair hangs over my shoulders in its natural, loose, blonde waves. I go class to class, schedule on hand, still unsure of where to go.

Third period rolls along and I feel a mix of overall bittersweet emotions. I take a seat in the middle of the room and doodle a picture of a squirrel on my notebook cover.

"Hey." Drew sits down in the seat next to me. He was sitting in the back with Landon and his crew but moved up to sit next to me. Why would he do that?

"Hi," I say quietly, turning my head to meet his gray eyes with my blue ones.

Drew smiles. "How are you today?"

"Okay. You?" I ask.

"Pretty good. You didn't text me last night."

My eyes widen. "You actually wanted me to text you?"

"Well, yeah." He shrugs. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I will. Just most people don't want to talk to me."

Drew smiles again. "Well I do."

Ms. Dunderland shuts the door and walks to the front of the class. "Okay. You all had homework last night! Pass it forward!"

I pull mine out of my folder and hand it to the kid in front of me, most of the others in the classroom do the same. But there's a group of five or six others who either bite their nails nervously or smirk rebelliously.

Megan walks in with Fiona and Britney in tow. She speaks in a whiny, yet slightly seductive tone, "Sorry we're late, Ms. D. We couldn't find the classroom."

Ms. Dunderland shows no sympathy. "You wouldn't find the classroom in the bathroom doing your makeup. So, I suppose you and your friends wouldn't be able to find it. Hand in your papers, then find a seat."

The room fills with immature 'ooh's and I suppress a laugh. Serves them right.

They sashay to the back of the class to sit with Landon's crew. Class goes on.

+++

The bell rings and Drew follows me out of class.

"Do you have lunch this hour?" he asks.

I nod.

"Me too. I'll walk you there."

And he does. And it's nice to not be walking alone like usual. He splits off from me with a wave and goes to meet his friends. I enter the lunch line and look to see what's for lunch. Peanut chicken. Great, looks like it's apple juice for me. I'm allergic to nuts.

I buy my juice and find Bianca and Davon waiting for me at the table Bianca and I sat at yesterday.

"Hey, nice to see you both here," I say, sitting down.

"Yeah, I convinced Day to come with me," Bianca says smiling. Then more quietly to me she adds, "He hasn't left my side since yesterday. Whatever you said worked, thank you!"

I smile and shrug. "I don't know what I did."

"So when do we get to meet your boyfriend?" Davon asks, paying attention again.

I redden. "He's not my boyfriend."

Bianca laughs. "Sure he's not. He just walks you to lunch and makes out with you. Completely unboyfriend things."

"Do you think he likes me? I couldn't tell. He's cute though," I ask, nervously confused.

"Rain, take it from me, boys don't get that ballsy unless they really want you or you're a slut. And being that yesterday was your first kiss, I'm going to go for the former," Davon explains.

Bianca laughs and I do too. I love having other people to laugh with. It's strange but fun.

"Should I do something about it?" I ask.

"Do you like him?" Davon asks, inquisitively.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then you have to flirt," he says.

Bianca laughs. "Rainy flirting?" She continues laughing, as if it's completely unbelievable that I would or even could flirt.

I sit up straighter. "What's so funny about that?" I make myself look as stern as possible while they look at each other and laugh. "Seriously, what?"

"It's just a little....out of character for you. I'm sorry!" Bianca laughs.

"All right. I'll prove it to you guys. After school, meet me at the rock. I'll show you. Just don't drive there please," I demand.

They agree but set off into laughter at the memory of the nearly plowing me over with an invisible car.

+++

After school, I pull out my phone and text Drew telling him to meet me at the rock. This will show them that I can flirt.

But wait, I can't flirt. I don't know how. Just be yourself, Rain. That's all you can do. Ugh, why do Megan type people have to be so good at this. It's like they were flirting trained before they were potty trained.

My phone vibrates in my hand. Meet you there (;

Winky face!? What is that supposed to mean? Does he like me? Is he joking? What am I getting myself into!? What if he kisses me again? What do I do?

"Pucker up, Rainy." Bianca smiles from my left.

I look to my right and find Davon, Bianca's new partner in crime. "Did I just say that all out loud?"

Bianca and Davon exchange an awkward look and nod.

"Shit. How loud?"

"We're the only ones that heard...I think," Davon says, kicking some dirt.

The popular group emerges from the building. Laughter follows them in their wake. Parts of the group break off into different groups. Some head to cars and others stay.

Drew walks over to me leaving his small group on the hood of a black car.

"Hey, Rain. Heard you wanted to talk?" he asks.

Bianca and Davon move closer together so they can watch from one, central position.

I nod. "Yeah." I step closer, thinking of how I'm gonna pull this off.

"What about?" Drew's voice lowers a bit, his eyes flickering over my face.

"Us."

"Us?"

"Us," I repeat.

He clears his throat. "What about us?"

"Well, I wanted to know what this us means." I bite my lip. "Do you know, Drew? It's been driving me crazy."

I figure out how to play this by his response: temptation. I set my hands on his chest and look up into his eyes.

"What do you want this us to mean?" His breathing gets uneven. It's working.

I half-smile. "You tell me."

Drew runs his hand over the back of my arm. "You busy Friday night? There's a bonfire with some of the people from school, would you go with me? We can figure out what the 'us' means."

"Very tempting." I say. "I'll go with you, Drew." I wrap my arms around him slowly, whispering in his ear, "I have to go."

"See you tomorrow?" he asks.

I nod. I watch him walk to his friends with a strange walk of pride and certainty. Satisfaction floods into me as I catch a glimpse of Megan and Britney looking annoyed and Fiona shooting daggers at me with her eyes. Drew must be Fiona's toy of choice that she's losing to me. I innocently smile and turn to Bianca and Davon. They stare wide eyed at me, mouths open. Winning is more fun than I thought.