Invisible

We sadly couldn't ditch school the next day because we had that project and my unexcused absences were getting dangerously high.

Lorrie had very awkwardly helped cover Corrie up with make up, and after all the hidden hickeys, she did a good job. I almost couldn't see them.

Were sitting in my truck, and she's staring at the console. "I don't want to present the project."

I take her hand and rub my thumb on the back of it. "We'll kick ass."

"Not when I pass out."

"Well, Jake and I will improvise. Pretend we meant for that to happen. You do die, at some point, remember?" I poke her side. "We should've written in my death too."

"Why?"

"Because how could the hero survive without the heroine?"

"Maybe you do die, we just didn't write it."

"Hopelessly romantic story. You're the future Shakespear."

"You wrote some of it too."

"Yeah, but I didn't want to kill off the chick."

"It was the best ending."

"Not in real life." I kiss her.

"Well, it is just a story," she says against my lips.

"Promise me that it is."

She smiled, her lips still brushing mine, but she leans back, smiling all the while at me. Not a mocking smile, just a warm, really truthful, happy smile.

Shton rapped on the window, making us jump. Him, Alec, and Jake were all standing outside. "Its fucking freezing! Can we go inside now?" He shouted through the door.

"Go ahead!" I yell back.

Alec opens the passenger side door and drags Corrie out, she doesn't resist, and Ashton grabs her backpack. Alec doesn't set her down. She so short he can comfortably hold her in the air without lifting up to high. Her feet dangle inches above the ground, and she has her arms folded and her head resting back on his shoulder. Feeling jealous, I get out and take her from him, keeping her in the air.

"Can I get down now?" She asks.

"What, he can hold you, but I cant?"

"Its starting to hurt," Corrie says, rolling her eyes and kicking her feet gently against my shins. "And if you carry me into the building like this, people will stare."

"They're going to stare lovely." I set her down

"What'd you do, change your relationship status on facebook?"

"Not yet," I say, wrapping my arm around her shoulders and watching the guys stare. They hadn't known. The school didn't even really know, but there had been speculations.

I looked down at Corrie, who was wearing a faded greay v-neck. "Ready to go wow everyone?"

"No."

I drag her forward anyway.

I'm reminded forcefully of Twilight (Lorrie forced me to watch it), when Edward walks in with Bella in his arm and everyone does double takes. Same. Exact. Reaction.

But then again, I'm more popular than Edward Cullen ever was, and Corrie's more reclusive than Bella. And also shrinking away from the stares. And shaking.

Well, it was going to happen eventually.

"Here comes the bitch," Alec said, singing along to the tune of here comes the bride.

Sure enough Kaylee was coming. Corrie really looked like she wanted to run away, but she didn't even try. I would never understand how Kaylee could march on such tall heels. And she was good at picking out shoes. She wore a size ten, but you couldn't tell.

"Who're you?!" Kaylee demanded.

Corrie, incapable of speech, gave me a terriffied glance.

"This is Corrie. Now would you move, were trying to walk down this hallway," I say, my voice icier than I intended. Whatever happened, she was not going to talk to Corrie.

Kaylee looked shocked by my tone, but what had she expected?

Corrie wasn't even shaking, and that worried me a bit, and I checked to see that she was still conscious. I was holding her kind of tightly. She honestly looked fine.

"Are you going to move?" I ask. There really isn't any room to walk around her, as her herd of girls is blocking the hallway, as well as the rest of the school watching to see if there would be a chick fight.

Kaylee, to my surprise, steps to the left and I steer Corrie through the hallway past her. We try to escape towards English, but were cut off by half the football team.

"So you his girlfriend now?" One asked, smiling broadly at Corrie. Corrie nodded shyly in response.

I know they all think I'm probably insane for going out with a girl like Corrie. But it didn't matter. They'd get to know her, and most of them were pretty good guys. She'd calm down around them at somepoint.

English wasn't a nightmare like Corrie thought it would be. In fact, I thought it was effing amazing. Our demon teacher made us go third. Corrie hadn't said a word since the football team, and we got up, getting ready to perform.

I honestly can't remember anything about performing the play, I was so centered on Corrie, but she was amazing. The one line that stuck out to me was one where I didn't quite think she was acting.

"Death is the easy way out!" I say forcefully, like my character should.

"What if its the only way?" Her voice is an echo, and her face is hidden by a shroud of hair and my stomach leaves me. It was the line Corrie wrote, after all.

Then, in the next scene Corrie ODs on Ibuprofen and dies. Again, the creepy feeling of her acting to well comes into play when she hits the floor without bracing herself. Moments later I barge into the 'room' and have to act like I've been torn to shreds. It isn't so hard because Corrie isn't opening her eyes to wink at me like I really wish she would and I keep seeing her vanish off the bridge in the rain.

Then its over and Corrie sits up, her shy face back on, and everyone in the room is speechless. I know she's panocking, thinking it was awful, but I take her hand and the three of us bow and the class erupts in cheers. "They love you," I say under my breath.

"They love you," she whispers back as the three of us take seats in the back. Ms. Glen had kind of let the class fall apart, which was wierd. I drag my desk so its touching hers. Alec and Ashton are on her other side because the have English and P.E. with the two of us, thank God.

"And you," I say. "You were great. Scary great. You should join theater arts or the drama club or whatever."

"I was about to piss myself the entire time."

"But you didn't," I point out. "You were great."

"Shut up, Aaron." She was blushing, but I could hardly see it because of her hair. I reached out and pulled her hair back. "Stop," she whines.

"You can't see them unless you're looking for them," I say. "Let the rest of the school see just how pretty my new girlfriend is." I'm playing with a piece of her hair now, twirling it around my finger. "Were going shopping afterschool today."

"No."

"Yes. And you're going to enjoy it whether you like it or not."

"Not."

"Why not?"

She doesn't answer and I wish she wouldn't be so reclusive. "Why not?" I repreat.

"Not my thing."

"We'll have fun. I promise. We can drag along the twins and you can laugh until you cry."

"If we go... Just us."

"You act like you have an option of going or not. But I can do just us."

"I don't want you to spend-"

"Take advantage of having a rich boyfriend dear. I'm going to spoil you rotten."

"No..."

"Diamonds, pearls, gold, Juicy Couture, GUCCI, all those other big brands I would love to recite, but I'm not a girl."

"I like Ross and TJ Maxx."

"See, they call this progress. Now we move to compromise. We'll see when we get to the mall."

She gave up or something and slid to my side of her seat and pressed herself into my side. I wrap my arm around her shoulders again, smiling like an idiot I was sure. I know that I never felt like this with Kaylee.

I looked over at Jake and he shook his phone under the desk. I pull mine out.

WHEN?!

yesterday

and u didnt tell us

i wasnt sure if corrie would care or not

well wat does she think?

im not going to pretend to kno

Jake shook his head and pocketed his phone. Then Alec and Ashton got my attention, making faces.

There was a group doing a really crappy performance about, guess what, getting lost in the forest. Corrie was shaking with silent giggles she was desperately trying to suppress. "No wolves yet," I whisper in her ear.

"But there's been a bear," she responds. "Don't you notice theres only two guys up there? The survivor and the bear that already ate the other one."

Now the twins are giggling, and Jake is grinning and shaking his head. Alec nudges Ashton and said something, they burst into renewed fits of silent laughter. Ashton put his head on his desk, but Ms. Glen wasn't paying them any attention. Or us, for once. But she did look disgusted as the little play ended.

Corrie sobered up almost instantly, but the twins were in tears of mirth.

"Life is good," I say complacently.

"Mhmm," Corrie murmurs against my chest. I wonder if she'll fall asleep.

People kept shooting us looks. Let them stare.

The bell rang and I walked her to class, then ran off for my own.

At lunch Corrie was standing outside her door in an obvious dilemma.

"What?" I ask.

"Half of me wants to sit with you and your friends. The other half wants to sit out here."

"Well, I see you have no food, as usual, so I'm going to put my tray down and were going to get you some. You can decide while were in line."

"But Kaylee has this lunch."

"I'll protect you, darling. Horrid bitch, she'll probably just let off seam on Twitter and Facebook, but you don't have an account in either, do you? So it doesn't matter. Can't cyberbully someone who doesn't use a computer."

Corrie blinked and I lead her inside.

After much argument, Corrie grudgingly got in the line with me for food. "Whats wrong?" I ask. She was quiet. Even quieter.

"Nothing," she smiles up at me. "I'm honestly pretty happy. Its just... Fear. Of Kaylee. Of Dad. Fear of your friends. What if they don't like me?"

"Well, my friends will, and if they dont we wont hang out with them. Kaylee... Well, she can be kind of scary. Your father? You don't have to deal with him any time soon."

We moved up. People stared. We both pretended not to notice.

"You scared me," I say. "During the play thing."

"How so?"

"You were to real."

She looks up at me with a faint smile. "You were just telling me to join the drama club."

"But not for the role of the suicidal girl, okay?"

"Why, I'm perfect."

"Don't say that again, please. Ever. Not even out of my presence."

She leans forward and hugs me. My heart skips a beat and I begin to think I've got a huge-ass feminine side.
~
P.E. was the best thing ever. Alec and Ashton were the world's best people, and they were instantly everyone's favorite. We were playing Just Dance 3 in gym too. Wii in gym? Fun enough.

Corrie was being Little Miss Shy until Ashton smaked her on the butt and told her is she didn't start having fun he'd do it again. I was nearly on the point of hitting him, in all honestly, but I decided it could wait for later because now Corrie had seized my hand and wasn't even bothering to look at the screen. Even in her gym uniform she looked great, and her hair was in a super long ponytail I managed to get my fingers stuck in before the block was over.

Alec eventially joined into our unorthodox dancing, yanking Corrie out of my grip and spinning her in circles until she looked like she might puke.

Everyone was staring, most so surprised to see Corrie actually existed and was in their class that they didn't know what to do about our insubordinate attidtude. Kaylee was glaring, and her boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. Well no wonder, as creepy obsessed as she'd been with me.

Ashton fell to the ground, laughing, with Corrie on top of him, having apparently tripped over one another. I pulled them up. "I'm going to borrow my girlfriend back, if you dont mind."

"I do," Ashton said, looking up at us with a wicked grin. "I'm afraid I must confess, I fancy your girlfriend quite a bit." He rolled over and grabbed Corrie's foot, and began to sing some sappy romance song. I kicked at him and he rolled away, laughing.

"They're complete maniacs, both of them," I say.

"Bells about to ring. Don't you have football?"

"Not today. And you're coming to my game on Friday."

The bell rings and Corrie skips off, already much more comfortable being in the limelight. She stops just before she gets to the locker room door and looks back at me with a tiny smile.

"You're in love, cuz," Alec says. "Now lets get dressed."