Perfectly Average

Chapter 1

Elijah

As they poured from their stuffy classroom like a river through its floodgate, the students around Elijah complained about the test they'd just taken.

"I don't know where the teacher even got that test from, it's like it was from a completely different book."

"I know, right? I swear the notes we took in class were totally useless."

Elijah had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. The test had been ridiculously easy for him, as usual. He was positive that if those girls had looked up at the board or listened for even a few minutes in class, rather than spending all their time painting their nails and passing notes, they would have been able to pass the test with relative ease. But he didn't speak up. Rule number one to maintaining invisibility, people notice those who notice or acknowledge them first. If you pretend you don't hear them, they'll have no incentive to leave their private little bubble to acknowledge your existence.

He maneuvered through the throng to his locker, wishing that everyone around him would just disappear. It can be exhausting striving for an appearance of non-existence. Swinging his locker open, he frowned at the little silver mirror that had he had inherited with his locker. He had tried to remove the irritating square from the inside of the door, but it was stuck fast with some sort of industrial strength super glue or something.

The image that reflected back at him from the little mirror no longer surprised him. The shaggy brown hair that he had purposely grown out and allowed to hang in his face. The black rimmed non-prescription glasses that he wore regardless of his perfect vision. The bored frown that refused to change in response to anyone or anything. It was all part of his disguise as a nondescript, uninteresting, unimportant, nobody. He had worked hard to cultivate his disguise, and so far no one had been able to see through it.

He pulled off the useless glasses to wipe away a smudge and glanced back up at the mirror. Clear blue eyes framed by dark lashes stared back at him.

"Your eyes are so beautiful, seductive really. You can't blame me for wanting to do...dirty things to you." A shiver ran from the base of his spine up and he felt nauseous. He shoved the glasses back in place, nearly putting out his eye in the process, and spun around. Noone was there. Taking a ragged breath and letting it back out, he sighed. Would the voice from his nightmares never stop haunting him? He slammed the locker door shut and rested his head against the cool metal for a moment. Taking several measured breaths, he slowly regained his composure.

He opened the locker again, decidedly avoiding looking in the mirror while he grabbed his books and tossed them in his bag. He made a mental note to find an innocuous poster or something to cover the mirror with, slung the bag over his shoulder and slammed the door shut once more. He had taken long enough at the locker that the halls had mostly cleared. He heard a passing giggle and someone whispered. Logic told him that those were not aimed at him, but paranoia crept in, telling him in no uncertain terms that everyone was watching him. No crowds meant that the comfortable anonymity of mingling among the masses, which he had come to rely on, was gone. He could feel his heart rate speed up and his breathing came in short gasps. Darkness threatened at the corners of his vision.

'Get ahold of yourself, Eli', he growled to himself trying to slow his breathing and regain his composure. He stood, head hanging, and began counting his breaths to force them to become slow and measured once more. After several minutes, the darkness retreated and he finally felt like he could fill his lungs. He glanced around to make sure no one had noticed his near breakdown. Now that logic was once again firmly in control, he could see that no one was even paying attention to him.

Feeling foolish, he shouldered his bag and hurried through the hall to escape his own personal hell. His nerves felt raw today, so he wasn't eager to rush home and be alone with his thoughts. He decided that he needed a distraction, something to keep him out of his head for a while. His phone beeped and he looked at it. A notification from Instagram reminded him that a movie he'd been waiting, what felt like a lifetime, for had been released today.