Daydream Dating

Chapter 1 - Hallways

Song of the chapter - Invisible by 5 Seconds of Summer

The hallway between my first and second period class was crowded. So crowded, in fact, that I wasn't able to get to my locker, which was smack in the middle of the hallway. For some reason this hallway was like a magnet for the populars, the jocks, and the random students just trying to get to their next class on time. The populars and the jocks ( oh who am I trying to fool, they were one and the same) had no such need. They went to class when they felt like it.

The random kids mixed in were just trying to get to their lockers without getting a death glare from someone who thought the world revolved around them. You should have seen the timid looks and wimpy "ahem, excuse me's" that those poor kids were attempting. Kinda pathetic actually but, what's a sad random to do?

I was none of the above. I was a nobody. I was neither seen nor heard by the rest of the student body. I was basically invisible. I had a small group of friends that I hung out with but other than those four people, no one even knew my name.

This was not for lack of trying. I was not shy. I tried making conversation with my classmates, whoever ended up sitting next to me. I didn't have any trouble talking to whoever it was, cheerleader, socialite, player, goth... It really didn't matter.

And they would engage me in conversation too. They asked and answered questions and laughed along with me, well not the goth. She just stared back with a blank expression. But the second I stepped out of the class, I ceased to exist. They looked past me in the hallways, didn't wave back at home games. And one guy even started calling me by the wrong name. For a year. And thought that wrong name(Sally. I really didn't look like a Sally) was my actual name.

And "Mr. Sally", which was my nickname for him, was standing in front of my locker on this particular day. Of course I didn't call him that to his face.

"Yo, Dylan? Would you mind getting out of the way so I could get into my locker?"

"Huh? Did you say something, Sally?"

See. At least he kinda knows who I am. "Dylan, I have told you repeatedly that my name is Mallory, not Sally."

"Are you sure?"

Oh for heavens sake! "Pretty sure, yes. And, my locker?"

"Yeah, yeah. In a second."

The guy must have a couple of screws loose. I think the whole school must be missing some important gene or something. Why can't anyone remember who I am?

I had no idea why this was the case. I was not weird. And yes, weird is a relative term, but really I wasn't in any way weird. I was totally normal. I did my homework, went to class on time, followed the school and class rules, and even went to all the major social events the school offered. Well, the ones that didn't require a date.

I wore the same clothes that everyone else wore. Nothing too trendy, but I wasn't like the girl who only wore long skirts and turtleneck shirts, with hair down passed her hips. Or the guy who wore a kilt every Thursday(seriously, why Thursday? It made no sense). There was even a girl that wore a cape to school. Everyday. They called her cape girl. I was a little jealous of cape girl. At least she had a nickname people remembered.

I spoke up in class, I raised my hand and often had insightful comments to make in the discussion. Maybe that was my problem, insight. I could read people like a book, "reading their mail" was the term I used. I knew pretty much everything about a person just by watching. It wasn't some paranormal gift or sixth sense. I just understood body language. I could read between the lines.