As soon as class had ended, the boy turned around in his chair to face me.
"Well? What did you think?" He asked hopefully. I could tell from his eager expression and voice that he wanted my approval. It rubbed me the wrong way. He had won a bet with me. If I were in his shoes, then I would be smug as heck about winning. So I concluded that his modest expression was meant to mock me for losing.
I glared and pursed my lips in a pout when I answered, "It was… cool."
"Really?" His green eyes lit up and his smile became more energetic. If human beings could sparkle, that's what he did. The sincerity radiating from his face was almost childish. "You believe me about my memory?"
"A liiiiittle bit." I pinched my fingers together to emphasis my disbelief. Though I was putting up a stink about it, I actually believed him. He had done a good job proving his memory to me. The problem was that I had too much pride to flat out admit I was wrong. I'm stupidly competitive, remember?
Maybe it's a good thing that no one notices me.
"Perfect!" My awful personality had no effect on his bright smile, "Then why don't you take my other books too?"
"Uh, No." I blurted, arms crossed over my chest, "I don't remember agreeing to take your stupid, heavy books if you won our bet! Actually, I'm pretty sure we didn't make any terms. I don't owe you anything."
My outburst left him looking pretty flustered, which in turn made me feel victorious. II had managed to stand my ground pretty competently.
"Sorry! I didn't mean it like that." He said quickly, a finger now pointing at my green messenger bag, "You don't seem to have brought any of your books today, so I thought…"
I could feel my ears turning pink. He had tried to be nice to me and I yelled at him like a jerk. I almost wanted my invisibility back. I was so embarrassed.
"I won't make you carry them, of course." He continued cautiously, talking like his words were walking on eggshells, "I can give them to you in our next class."
My thoughts were stuck in a warm haze of embarrassment, so his words barely registered with me at first. I just nodded slowly, afraid of making things anymore awkward between us.
"You'll need the history book next, right?" He prompted me.
Again, I nodded.
Then stopped, shook my head, and squinted up at him suspiciously. "Hang on a sec. How do you know what classes I have?"
"We have all of our core classes together." He answered without blinking. "Have you, uh… never noticed…?"
Nope.
Nope, I had not. Add that to the list of reasons why I felt absolutely stupid that morning.
"I don't notice anyone." I said to defend myself. Then I kept going, as if I had a fight to win, "No one talks to me, so I kind of gave up. It's really tiring to be ignored all of the time."
"Then let's talk more." He said, "Why don't we eat lunch together?"
It was so simple.
I remember being shocked, with my mouth hanging open and my eyes going wide. For the first time in months, I had lunch plans with someone. My stomach filled with butterflies at the thought. I wasn't going to be lonely today. That idea blew me away.
After I mumbled a shy agreement, the two of us walked out into the hallway. He had to go to the West Wing of the school and I had to go the East Wing, so we split ways at the door. I waited until he disappeared into a crowd of students before tearing my gaze away. Oddly, the whole school looked different to me. The red brick walls didn't seem as oppressive and the sounds of students not as irritating. In just one class period, my world had gotten brighter. I even caught myself smiling at my reflection in a school window. Ugly little me! With my messy brown hair and my boring clothes. I was on cloud nine.
And then I came to a sudden stop. Feet planted in the ground, almost tripping myself as my mind tripped over a startling realization.
"I never asked him what his name was!" I gasped loudly.
Fortunately, my social invisibility kicked in. No one noticed my shouting in the middle of the hallway.
"Oh gosh… He knew my name was Ophelia." I dragged my hands down my face and groaned, "Oh no. How do I ask hiiim? Ugh… "