Warnings: none
Summary: To Justin, Alex is invisible. He doesn't even know his name. Or so he thought.
Alex's POV
Justin. Justin Callahan. The guy I've liked ever since 6th grade. The hottest boy in school. And the most popular. Girls literally throw themselves at him. He can have anyone in the school. And who does he pick? The most obnoxious and dumb girl in the entire school. Annie Williams. But hey, she's pretty to most guys, and she's popular. What a great package, minus her being the most homophobic person I've every met. Her and her squad are full of other homophobic girls and guys. And, as luck would have it, the guys are 100 times stronger than any other average guy. That's not very good when they're beating you senseless just because you're gay. Trust me. I've had it happen to me before. Multiple times.
I look over at Justin's table, and I see Annie whisper something in his ear, and he laughs loudly. She sits closer to him, almost in his lap. She looks up at him and leans in to give him a kiss. I turn away when it gets well over PG.
"Are you okay?"
I look over at Darcy. She has her arm wrapped around her girlfriend, Lilly, and she's frowning at me.
"Yeah," I lie.
She snorts, rolling her eyes. "We all know that's a lie." Her face softens and she lowers her voice. "Is it Justin?"
I look down at my hands, playing with the bottom of my MCR shirt. "Maybe..."
She sighs. "I know you like him, but you know he's straight. He's dating Annie."
I nod slowly. "I know... it's just... I wish he at least knew my name. It's like, to him, I'm invisible."
Darcy grabs my hand. "You're not invisible to me. Or Lilly. Or Ethan. Or Emma. Everyone at this table loves you." She motions to everyone who is sitting with us.
I give her a weak smile. "Thanks, Darc."
She unwraps her arm from around Lilly momentarily to give me a quick hug. "Anytime."
--
I close my locker door, locking the lock in place. I walk towards English Lit, my arms wrapped tightly around my books, my books pressed to my chest. I keep my head low, staring at the ground. And because I'm staring at the ground, I can't exactly see in front of me, and I run into someone. I bump against their chest, and I fall to the ground, both of our books falling with me.
"Oh my God, I am so sorry!" I mutter, trying to pick up everything, but failing miserably when I drop half of the books again.
The guy bent down, trying to pick up some of the books. "It's okay, it was just an accident."
I look up to smile at him, but stop as soon as I see who I knocked into. Justin.
I smile weakly at him, and we gather up the books. I turn to walk away, but Justin calls me. "Hey, Alex."
Oh my God he knows my name, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. "Y-yeah?" I ask.
He scratches the back of his neck, looking at the ground. "Um, I'm having a party... Friday night... and I was wondering if, um, you could maybe, uh, come? If you want to?"
I stare at him for a minute, shocked that he asked me that. "Well, um, parties aren't usually my thing..."
Justin's face drops. "Oh. Well, if you change your mind, you can still come."
I nod, smiling. "Okay. Thanks."
He smiles back, and we just stand there for a minute, then I speak. "I should, uh, probably get to class."
