The Girl Everyone Tried Not to See
The hallways at my high school always seemed longer than they really were.
Maybe it was because I spent most of my time staring at the floor.
Maybe it was because I knew that if I looked up, I would see the same expressions I had been seeing for years.
The whispers.
The stares.
The smirks.
A dark birthmark stretched across the left side of my face. By the time I was seventeen, I had learned exactly how to position my hair to hide most of it.
I had also learned something far more painful.
Most people only noticed the part of me they thought was wrong.
So I became invisible.
Or at least, I tried to.
Every afternoon, I hurried home to the small apartment I shared with my mother. She worked two jobs just to keep us afloat, and most nights I heard her come home long after midnight.
But one evening, she was actually sitting at the kitchen table when I walked in.
That alone felt unusual.
She smiled tiredly and placed a plate of spaghetti in front of me.
“Hannah, sweetheart, you’ve barely touched your food.”
“I’m not hungry.”
Her eyes softened immediately.
“Is it school again?”
I shrugged.
“They put up the prom posters today.”
The smile faded from her face.
“Ah.”
“Brittany was handing out tickets like she owned the place.”
Mom knew exactly who Brittany was.
Everyone did.
Brittany had spent years making my life miserable while somehow remaining everyone’s favorite student.
I pushed a noodle around my plate.
“Mom, I don’t want to go to prom.”
She reached across the table and squeezed my hand.
“Hannah, you only get one senior prom.”
I looked away.
“The only memory I’d make is being the girl standing alone in the corner.”
“Then don’t stand in the corner.”
I blinked.
“What?”
“Stand in the middle of the room for once.”
Her voice was gentle.
“But give yourself the chance.”
I didn’t answer.
Because deep down, I already believed something she refused to accept.
Nobody was going to ask me.
The Boy Who Changed Everything
The next morning, my best friend Megan was waiting at the bus stop.
She was the one person at school who had never treated me differently.
“You look exhausted,” she said.
“My mom is pushing the prom thing.”
“Of course she is.”
I laughed weakly.
When we reached school, I headed straight for my locker.
I spun the combination.
Opened the door.
Grabbed my history book.
Then turned around.
And froze.
Caleb was standing there.
The Caleb.
Star quarterback.
Honor student.
The most popular boy in school.
For a moment, I genuinely thought he must be waiting for someone else.
Then he smiled.
“Hey, Hannah.”
My heart stumbled.
“Hi.”
He shoved his hands into his pockets.
“I wanted to ask you something.”
“Okay…”
He took a breath.
“Would you go to prom with me?”
Everything around me seemed to stop.
The hallway.
The conversations.
The noise.
All of it disappeared.
I stared at him.
“You want me to go to prom with you?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
The question escaped before I could stop it.
Caleb looked directly at me.
“Because you’re kind.”
I blinked.
“And because the way people treat you isn’t right.”
I searched his face for signs of a joke.
For hidden laughter.
For cameras.
