UNCLICK

• Stephanie Southam, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2017

People passed me by in the school halls regularly, never knowing I was there.

I liked to be invisible.

For the second time in my life, I noticed someone looking at me.

That person happened to be Mason Jones, the school captain, also my ex best-friend. I watched him turn and talk to his new friends, never taking his eyes off me.

That same night, while I was studying for my physics exam, a notification popped up on my laptop. I logged in to reveal a friend request.

After inspecting her feed, I accepted it.

She was beautiful.

SAMANTHA: Hi, I see you like physics too! :)

Once we started talking, we talked for hours each day.

The end of the day couldn't come quick enough, so that we could talk.

She made me feel like I wasn't so invisible.

Suddenly, the messages stopped.

I waited days before jokingly typing something that I hoped would bring her back to me.

LUCUS: You dead???

Maybe she was just busy studying as exams were fast approaching.

I walked into school and avoided everyone as usual. I kept my eyes glued to the ground until I reached my locker, where I shrugged my backpack off my shoulder and turned my head to see Mason yet again, staring at me.

Every day, for months, as I reached my locker, there he was, staring. I felt uneasy every time we made eye contact.

I looked away and shuffled things around in my locker.

"Hey, Lucas."

His voice made me want to run and hide. I visibly gulped and turned to face him.

"Mason," I curtly nodded.

I turned to flee, only to come face to face with his new friends. I had to get away, but they blocked every chance I had.

One boy smirked at me before he tripped me, sending me flying towards Mason, whose hands landed on my chest, shoving me backwards.

I was being tossed around like a sack of potatoes, but I endured it so they would leave quicker.

"Hey Lucas, you dead?" Mason taunted, an evil grin on his face.

As his friends burst into a fit of laughter, my eyes widened.

I felt vomit rise in my throat.

"W- what?" I stuttered, mouth agape.

"You thought that someone could ever love you?" He sneered.

They let me go.

I ran, leaving the laughter behind me. I burst into the cleaner's closet and knocked a mop over.

I leant against the door and muffled my sobs with my hand.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up to her profile. I studied her face and saved her display picture, and dragged the image into the search box.

My tears fell onto the glowing screen as the same photo appeared multiple times with a stock watermark on it.

My deepest secrets were in the hands my enemy. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself to un click.

I would still be invisible.