What You Can't See

Chapter 1

A group of five walked down the streets of southern Ohio, four of them were in uniforms, black polo shirts and beige shorts with socks pulled up to their knees, the other was in jeans and a Broncos football jersey. They walked side by side just as they always do, it was the final week of school and for a few of them it would be their last weeks of school for the rest of their lives.

"Ha, Dante check out this one..." One of the boys said as he showed his phone to the kid without a uniform,

"Sam you know I've already seen that one!" Dante responded with a laugh as he dragged his backpack on the ground behind him, the fabric already disheveled. The two of them argued on with dumb topics as they scrolled through Sam's social media, Dante eventually hogging the phone as he read a few posts aloud in a dramatic voice while running his fingers through his bleach blonde hair that he claims to be natural. Sam let the boy go on as he gripped his backpack straps over his shoulders, smiling at all of the lame jokes the two of them went on with.

"You guys redo this thing every week you know." A female voice piped in on a stale tone, she was on the opposite side of the sidewalk and was holding the hand of the girl next to her, a black skirt with a thin white stripe was over her shorts and her face looked more amused than her tone.

"Shut up, this is my only way of knowing the jokes that are relevant.." The other blurted out, her voice was a little quieter, "My mom won't let me get social media." She stressed afterwards, a few sighs echoed from the group as they already knew this.

"You do realize that you're sixteen right?" Sam asked her politely,

"More importantly, does your mom realize that you're sixteen? She can't treat you like a ten-year-old forever Sonya." Dante said a little less politely as he threw Sam's phone in the air before catching it, Sam's face going rather pale at this. Sonya looked at her shoes as she squeezed the girls hand a little tighter,

"As long as she pays for my tuition I'm following her rules, it's only two more years after all." She started looking up, "Right Harper?" She turned to face the girl she was next to, their eyes meeting for a few seconds before Harper turned to look up as she shrugged her shoulders,

"Yeah I guess, I mean respect is respect after all, and two years isn't all that much." The girl fumbled with her answer before getting to her point, she ended it confidently either way. Dante, who was obviously dissatisfied with not being supported responded without a second thought,

"Harper you're just saying that cause you're a girl, come on Sam shouldn't she just stand up for herself?" Harper retaliated by saying something along the lines of, 'What is that supposed to mean' but ended up getting flustered and biting her tongue before groaning obnoxiously. Sam kept his mouth shut though he did elbow Dante in the side, "Okay obviously you guys don't understand English or something because no one here is supporting themselves."

"Really Dante it's okay you don't need to put yourself out there." Sonya said her voice still quiet, it wavered as she tried to speak over everyone she wasn't too fond of the topic as it continued to linger on her,

"It's okay Sonya, I'm fine." Dante quickly said sincerely before poking the fifth member of the group in the shoulder, who had been walking quietly and unamused the entire time, "What about you Whitely, what are your opinions?" He said as Sam turned away and crossed his arms not facing Whitely,

"Don't involve me in this, you know I'm not here to entertain you." He said in a stern tone that had a hint of an accent. Dante rolled his eyes,

"Then why are you-"

"I'm just walking with Sam, how many times do I have to go over this?" Whitely spoke in a nasal tone and Sonya sidestepped so that she wasn't as close to him, her and Harper had begun talking in whispers. After that Dante shut his mouth and went back to scrolling through Sam's phone, his mood returning momentarily. Sam acted as if nothing had changed though he had grown slightly more nervous after those few seconds of conversation Dante had with his brother.

Eventually, the group came to a crosswalk on an intersection and Dante began walking in the opposite direction as he headed towards his public school, the rest continued on to their private school and everything shifted but, for only a second. The girls stopped holding hands and moved to walk on either side of the boys, any previous conversation died as their school came into view. Sights of girls hanging on the arms of their boyfriends, groups of three who were all deep in conversation, or simply people walking alone quickly studying for any upcoming quizzes could be seen. Harper put on her glasses that she had popped the lenses out of and pulled her curly orange hair from the ribbon she had it up in. Sonya pulled her bangs from her ears and parted her hair in front of her face. The two boys didn't do much besides getting their IDs ready for arrival.

That's life now, after the news channels and such shutting down people had to find issues to complain about other ways, soon things like pride faded away and things went a little 1950's for a few years. I guess one could say that society went full circle and we ended up back where we began with all this separation stuff though, things were different. It was no longer ethnic oppression and more so of how one would define themselves but, hey that's just how society functions.

As for the teenager's things in private school carried on as usual, and very little interaction between the group happened throughout the day due to their schedules and overlapping classes. Things in public school also carried on for the usual day, a total of two fights broke out within the freshmen and only one was resolved, Dante finished his homework during class so he wouldn't have to deal with it later and spent a quarter of his allowance on the coffee sold in the cafeterias instead of eating breakfast. So I guess you could say that the day was normal and the six hours required for school ended without a hitch, once school bells rang and classes ended the groups made their way back onto the sidewalk and on their merry way back home, the reason these unlikely pairs were together was because they all lived in the same neighborhood after all.

Once they had grown farther away from the school, Sonya and Harper were once again hand in hand and the conversations they had ended this morning were picking up again. They were average students after all so there was no real reason they wouldn't be discussing the classes they hate and gossiping over students that were immersing themselves in too much drama. Soon they got to the intersection and Sonya's hair was behind her ears and Harper had taken off her glasses and tied up her hair again. Standing at the intersection for two.. Three.. Five minutes did they wait. Sam squinting down towards the direction of the public school,

"I don't see him anywhere.." Sam said aloud as he turned his back on the group, Harper had moved to look down the street, her hand held over her eyes as she squinted everything she could see were shades of pink and blue,

"Well, where is he, his school lets out three minutes before ours.." She said as her thoughts were spoken, eventually, she stood up and kicked at the ground, "We can't be waiting here all day, maybe he's already at home- Hey where are you going?" She said standing up abruptly, Whitely was several feet away from them as he walked,

"I can't bother waiting for that kid." He said turning around and stopping, "I have work I need to get done and so do you. We should go." Whitley's voice was a drone and soon Sam was running up next to him, he couldn't arrive home later without his parents seeking suspicion. Harper stood there, at the intersection for a few seconds longer as she tried to see if anyone else was coming, the image mixed together before she felt a tug on her arm, turning to see Sonya. They both exchanged nods before darting down the sidewalk to catch up with the two boys, the situation still sat off with Harper and she held her phone on at her side as she waited for a response, or anything to come in from Dante.

Reaching the neighborhood where they lived, it was only a fifteen-minute walk from the school, the group slowly thinned out. Harper's house came first and she opened her gate and stepped inside before three dogs ran from her house and she waved before walking away, talking in a voice one would use to talk to a baby. Then the brothers, who left quietly, Sam, of course, left smiling and waving goodbye, his brown hair reflected the sunlight in a flattering way, or at least Sonya thought it did. The girl, now alone walked with her arms in front of her, a string bag dangling from her hands so she had something to hold onto. She walked past a small cottage, the last name, 'Noctis" was on the mailbox. This was where Dante lived. Seeing Dante's mother on the front porch, an envelope in her hand, Sonya waved politely. His mother did not wave back though, she did look up and smile, being so far away Sonya couldn't really tell but the smile seemed melancholy to her. Attempting to shrug it off, Sonya continued to her home, her round face growing cold and her expression falling worried. Of course, she had to forget all of this once she reached the porch, with a soft smile gracing her lips as she pushed open her door and started her routine.