Invisible

Chapter 4

"Hey, you came back! I didn't think you would," Liam greeted me the next morning.

"Why wouldn't I?" I smiled, walking with him to my locker.

He glared at me. "Because I'm rude and scary remember?"

"Yeah, but you're all talk." I teased. He stopped walking.

"I am not all talk. I wear Led Zepplin T-shirt's and I don't smile. I'm a terrible person and no one should like me." He argued.

I laughed as I opened my locker. "You smile at me."

"That's because you're the only other person in this school that's cool." He huffed, not meeting my eyes.

I looked at the floor, smiling like an idiot.

"So what part of town do you live in anyway?" He asked, leaning against the locker next to mine.

I froze, trying to think of a good lie. "Umm... I... I forget. I'm not very good with directions... or memorizing."

He stared at me for a minute with a raised eyebrow. "That's really pathetic Rebecca. Oh, what's your last name? I'll be calling you by that."

"What?"

"I don't use first names. I call everyone by their last names. Part of me being the only cool person in the school." He reminded me.

"Uh, right. My last name is..."

Crap. What's the alias we picked this time?

"Hello? Did you forget your own name?" He waved a hand in front of my face.

"No, no sorry. It's... Umm..."

I looked at my locker. "Lock...man"

"Lockman?"

"Yep! Lockman. Rebecca Lockman." I smiled and closed my locker, quickly heading to class.

"Hey wait up!" Liam chased behind me, offended.

We walked to class together in silence. The very tip of my finger was invisible, but it was barely noticeable.

This is progress! Am I controlling it?

After classes that day, Liam offered to give me a ride home. I declined since he would be taking me to a motel and that would be suspicious.

"Fine. Let's go do something anyway because I'm not about to go do homework like some loser," he complained, leading me to his car.

"What do you want to do?" I asked, the butterflies returning to my stomach. I had never hung out with anyone alone before.

"There's a park not far from here, we could walk the trails," He suggested and got into his car, not even giving me a chance to say no.

I sighed and climbed into the passenger seat.

"I'd have to ask my mom, and I don't have a phone," I argued.

"You don't have a phone? What are you, Amish?" He scoffed, tossing his phone to me.

I dialed the motel room number, but no answer.

"I hope she's okay," I said under my breath.

We reached the park and I followed Liam through the trails until there was no one in sight.

"So how are you going to get home if you won't let me take you?" Liam smirked. I stopped walking.

"You set that up!" I accused.

He shrugged and kept walking, leaving me behind. "Maybe I did. But now you're trapped."

"Are you trying to kidnap me?" I teased, running to catch up with him.

"Not exactly."

I rolled my eyes, ignoring his statement. "What's your favorite color?"

"What are you, five?" He snorted.

"Actually I'm five and a half. Answer the question." I demanded.

He ignored me and continued walking.

"Fine. Myfavorite color is lime green. Will you tell me now?" I begged.

He turned his face away to hide his smile, then turned back to me, rolling his eyes. "If you must know, my favorite color is black. As if it isn't already obvious." He gestured to his outfit that was completely black.

"You're right, I probably should've guessed it," I laughed. Then I stopped, gasping.

"Look!" I whispered, tugging on Liam's sleeve.

"It's a rabbit," he answered, unamused.

I crouched down to the ground, slowly inching closer to it. Surprisingly, it didn't run until I reached out to pet it.

"Are you dumb? It could give you a disease," Liam pointed out as it ran away. I sighed.

"I love animals. I want to work in a zoo someday," I confided, then sighed, knowing that would never be possible.

Liam smiled slightly. "That's a pretty cool goal." He said matter-of-factly, then continued walking.

We walked deeper into the woods, reaching a small creek. There were willow trees on the bank, almost creating a canopy. There seemed to be more birds here than any other part of the trail, all happily singing.

"This is my favorite part of the trail," Liam said, pointing to a large bush. I raised my eyebrows, waiting for an explanation. It was so beautiful here, and all he cared about was a bush?

He gestured for me to follow him as he crawled under the bush. Underneath there was plenty of room to sit, but we were completely hidden from the outside.

"Wow, this is so cool!" I gushed. Someone (most likely Liam) had stashed books, snacks, flashlights, and other essentials in a sealed plastic container in the space.

"This was my hiding place when I was a kid. No one ever found me here. So I made it my fort." He smirked.

I smiled at him and pulled some books out of the container. They were mostly books about government and history.

Liam sat quietly, seeming nervous. He was fidgeting and he looked like he was about to jump at me. Finally, after several agonizing minutes of silence, he revealed why he was so anxious.

"Now that we're alone... wanna tell me how you turn invisible?"