Dear Richie

August 27 Age:16

Dear Richie,

I know that it has been awhile since I last wrote a letter to you, but I think you kinda know the reason why.

You see, a new student is at our school. His name is Ethan Bradley. He is pretty tall, but not as tall as you. Curly dirty blonde hair and green eyes. He is a football player, or was in his old school, anyway.

I met him in my new fourth period class last week. He kinda sat alone in the corner of the room. Lucky me, I was basically shoved to that spot beside him, returning to the old rutine.

"Hey."

He made the first move.

I wasn't expecting him to do that. I wasn't expecting him to even look at me. I wasn't expecting myself to respond.

I glanced at my surroundings and then whispered to him, "You can see me?"

He chuckled and then put a hand out to me.

"Eathan Bradley."

I took his hand in mine and shook. "Casper."

He rolled his eyes at me for that one.

"Alright, then, Casper," Eathan smirked at me. "What do you like to do?"

"Well, my uncles like to terrorize kids but I rather prefer trying to be their friend."

That was when Mr. Arvin interrupted us with his booming voice and began the day with some ice breaker games.

We played the one where you write three things about yourself on a sheet of paper, share it with the class, and then crumble up the papers and toss them around the room.

I remember that I put down, "My favorite novel is The Hunger Games trilogy (you can never just choose one), I have been to Disney land only once when I was three, and I love to watch the sunset".

When one girl read my paper out loud to try and figure out whose it was, no one guessed it was me because no one was listening to me.

I remember everyone giving each other blank stares. I was about to raise my hand and say it was mine until...

"It's Casper's."

Everyone gave Eathan a mixture of estranged faces, from confused to curious.

"I mean, I don't know her name, but she's sitting right beside me."

Now everyone was staring at me.

The girl that read the note didn't give much notice to me. All she did was toss it back to me... so that it hit me in the face.

It didn't hurt, but the fact that she did it...broke me just a bit.

"Why don't you try treating Casper with a little bit more respect."

The voice came from none other than Eathan, stating it as more of a demand than a question. I tried to stop him, but it was no use.