Third hour went by quickly, at least for Ariel, probably because she was busy thinking about how to approach the awaiting conversation with David. Luckily, there happened to be a substitute in Ariel’s choir class today. Ariel busied herself with random thoughts. She wished that David was a student instead of a teacher, maybe then she would have a friend, even if it was David. She knew though, that being too close with a teacher, even if they were a family friend, could cause rumors to spread, and might end David’s career, and she would never let that happen.
The bell rang to release students to the clamored hallways, allowing them to cluster and talk about things Ariel envied not being part of. Sometimes not having Lorene was almost like torture, Lorene’s parents had made sure of that. Ariel supposed she tortured herself in a way as well though, by keeping reminders and mementos around of the lost friendship. Ariel sighed away the bitter memories and squeezed through a group of girls giggling about a boy named Sean, who apparently would be considered extremely hot, if only he hadn’t cheated on Samantha. Ariel hated how invisible she was, but reminded herself that if she wasn’t invisible, she’d be part of the disturbing and irritating daily drama in her high school.
Ariel had lunch with the freshman, which was a result of the lazy incompetence of the office secretaries, who never bothered to fix the situation. Ariel went for her safe haven, her wonderful sanctuary of peace and happiness, in this horrible unkind school. Ariel entered the library, walked slowly to her spot behind the tallest bookshelf, and pulled out a pencil and paper. Ariel searched deep within herself, hoping to find the emotion or the strength to write another poem, and found a dark depressing place to take some of her creativity from. Ariel could only write poems about sad, depressing, or scary things, she didn’t know why, but David had made her content with it last year. He had told her it was okay, that she just expressed in poems what she didn’t want to feel, like sorrow and anger, but held on to happiness.
“Invisible
I often wonder sometimes,
Which would be worse?
To be invisible, or not to be?
Yet, both seem to me, a curse.
Invisibility would hide you,
From all the things people could do.
Yet, there’d be nobody there,
In which your love, secrets, and dreams to share.
People would never look to find,
All your faults lurking in your mind.
But, those faults would stay,
Since you’d be alone all day.
You could always hide your hurt,
But, the hurt will never really go away.
You’d begin to break and fray,
With nobody to hold you together.
Invisibility could be good and bad,
You could hide from the world,
But, it’s just make you stay sad.
So, would you want to be invisible like me?”
Ariel smiled down at the poem and hid it inside her composition book, maybe she’d show it to David sometime. The bell rang, and Ariel stared up at the wall clock, she was shocked that it’d taken her thirty minutes to write this poem, but felt happy nonetheless that she’d written it. Ariel crammed her composition book into her already stuffed backpack, and sleuthed her way out of the library. Ariel entered the hormone ridden hallway, and squeezed herself in between people, some of them getting mad for touching them. Ariel brushed them off, they just hated the too crowded hallways like her, and they’d forget the brief encounter in five seconds anyways.
