Invisible

Chapter 2

The lunch bell rang at quarter after noon. I stopped at my locker, dropped off my books and headed for the cafeteria. It was a large space, with several long tables with benches. Painted on the wall, above the tuck shop, it read "The Snakepit." I thought it was kind of cool. In the gym there was a mural of two king cobras, which is suitable because our team name is The Cobras.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Addison waving at me and gesturing to me to come sit at her table. I smiled and walked over to her, not noticing three other people sitting at the same table.

"Guys," Addison said, then pointed at me. "This is Kathryn. Kathryn, this is Josh, you've already met him." She pointed at a skinny brunette girl with way too much makeup on. " This is Grace. She'll be in your english class. And finally-" A guy with broad shoulders, blonde hair, blue eyes, and a 5:00 shadow stood up and extended his hand.

"My name is Matthew. I'm Addison's older brother."

I shook his hand, and Addison whispered to me, "We're twins. He's only older by about five minutes, and he always rubs it in." I giggled.

I pulled a twenty dollar bill out of my pocket and headed for the tuck shop. The special was a grilled cheese with ham and a bowl of tomato soup. It was only five dollars. I stood in line, waiting for my turn at the order station. When I finally got to the front, I simply ordered a grilled cheese because I didn't like tomatoes. The lady behind the counter gave me a slip of pink paper and pointed to the line a few feet away. I paid, then walked over. There was another lady handing out orders. Then I realized that my slip of paper had a number on it. 27. This'll be quick enough, I thought.

"Twenty-five!" someone yelled from the grill. A girl stepped up and grabbed the tray sitting on the counter, placing her paper in a bin as she did so.

Finally a stocky woman placed a tray on the counter and yelled, "Twenty-seven!" I walked up, aware that people were watching me, grabbed my lunch and put my number in the bin.

I put my tray down on the table. "Is it always that busy?" I asked Addison.

"Yep. Especially on grilled cheese day." She glance down at my sandwich and chuckled. "First day and you've already got the hang of it."

"The hang of what?" I asked, confused.

"Blending in with the others.You ordered the most popular item on the menu. If that isn't fitting in, I don't know what is."

I shrugged and took a bite. Instantly I knew why it was the most popular.The cheese wasn't processed, and it oozed out of the sides with every bite. Plus, they used real ham, not just sandwich meat. "Mmmmm..." was my first and only comment. I finished it in a few famished gulps, since I hadn't had breakfast. I heard the bell, and everyone got up and left their trays on the tables and walked away. I figured that's what we were supposed to do, so I left my tray where I had been sitting. Then I saw Addison picking up hers and putting it on the counter. I quickly grabbed mine and followed her, not wanting to get the cleaning staff mad on my first day.

Addison and I walked to class together. I was glad that she was in my P.E. class and that I wouldn't be alone. It wasn't much different in that class than it was in New York. We were given shorts and t-shirts and the teacher gave us instructions that we were to wear them for every class. Then he decided it would be a good idea to go outside and play dodgeball. We all met on the field after we changed, and the coach split us up into two teams. Thank goodness Addison and I were both on the red team, or I would have gotten creamed.

Final period rolled around and I noticed that several of the students in higher grades were looking like zombies. They've been here longer than me, so I guess they're just bored of this school, I said to myself.

I was just grateful that we hadn't had maths earlier because Mr. Craker wasn't in such a crazy mood than he was in the morning. He told Matthew to come and help me understand the metric system while the others worked quietly in their books. Matt looked at me and smiled, and I blushed just enough for him to notice and smile even wider. I got a feeling in the pit of my stomach. Not a bad feeling, but something like butterflies, like when you get nervous.

Matt explained to me that the metric system used millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, and meters. He told me how to get the circomference of a circle and then gave me some problems to work on. I got them all right, but I forgot to put "cm", "mm", or "m" after the answer.

"Mr. Craker will have a hissy fit if you forget those," Matt explained, and I laughed. Then he turned to me and said, "Do you want to come to my house after school? I mean... well... With me and Addison, that is."

My heart did a little flip in my chest, then I grinned. "Sure. But how about you guys come to mine?"

Matt, still gazing at me and smiling, nodded.

"Great. I'll text my mom."

Mom texted me back right away saying that I could have Matt and Addison over and that it was great that I already had friends. There were only six people on the bus. Greg, a fourth grader, sat in the front with the driver whom he claimed to be his mom. Charlotte, a seventh grader sat with her younger sister, Annie, right behind Greg. Earlier she had told me that they weren't allowed to sit in the back of the bus, because those seats were "reserved" for the high school students.

Addison and I sat on one bench, while Matt sat one seat ahead of us, turning around to talk to us at every red light. We all laughed when he didn't realize that the light had turned green and he fell backwards onto the floor.

An hour and a half later, with our butts -- especially Matt's -- sore, the bus screeched to a stop at the end of my driveway. "Wow," Addison breathed, gazing at my house. "It's huge!"

"Huge?" I asked, sarcastically. "It's the tiniest house ever! And I used to live in a trailer park!"

"That must've been one massive trailer, then." Matt added. " Because that's the biggest house I've ever seen."

I didn't argue further, because my trailer was pretty big and it had two stories. This house only seemed smaller to me because it had one story and a basement. We walked up my long driveway and entered the house.

"Mom! I'm ho-ome!" I yelled in to the empty space. I kicked off my shoes and strolled to the kitchen, where Mom was making cupcakes.

"Oh, hello Kathryn. How was school?" Before I could answer she went on. "These will be for you and your friends as soon as they're done." Matt had followed me in, and Mom looked over to him, put down the bowl of batter that she had been pouring in to paper cups. "Hello. I'm Mrs. Winters, Kathryn's mother. And you are...?"

"Matthew Greene. And this is my little sister, Addison," he said as she entered the room, glancing at the artwork on the walls.

She huffed. "By five minutes!" she said playfully. Mom laughed.

"It's nice to meet you two," Mom said with a smile.

"You too," Addison and Matt said politely. I herded them to the living room.

"Your mom seems nice," Matt commented when out of earshot.

"She is," I replied, "but she's a bit loco at times." We all laughed and flopped down on the couch. I got the butterflies again when I saw Matt's face light up.

"That sounds a bit like our mom, doesn't it, Addison?" Matt said. Addison nodded, then looked at me with a knowing look. I blushed, and Matt grinned.