Why Me?

The Last Person I Wanted to Notice Me Was the Only Person Who Did.

For Katherine, surviving junior year is a matter of basic math: keep your head down, maintain a perfect 90 average, and ignore the sea of fake smiles and vape smoke filling the tenth grade hallway. Ever since her middle school friends traded her in for varsity sports and popularity, she's been perfectly content sitting alone at her empty lunch table. Invisible. Silent. Independent.

Until Braylon walks over.

Braylon is effortlessly confident, universally known across all four grades, and completely bored by the high school drama swirling around him. He doesn't care about the girls trying to get his attention, and he certainly didn't mean to invade Katherine's isolated corner of the cafeteria. But when a trashy locker-room conversation with his best friend accidentally spills over right in front of her, he catches the sharp, unfiltered annoyance in Katherine's eyes.

She doesn't want his company. She doesn't want to talk. She just wants him to disappear.

To a guy used to everyone playing a part, Katherine is the first real thing Braylon has seen all year. Katherine thinks she's just an awkward eavesdropper who doesn't know when to start talking. Braylon thinks he's finally found someone worth listening to.

Some people hide to be forgotten. Others hide just waiting for someone confident enough to find them.