Jayme


The halls of Richardson High were always hideously bright on the first day of school. Fluorescent lights buzzed softly overhead, their white, honeycombed plastic shields newly cleaned of dead insect shapes. The black and white checkered floor dazzled, glinting in the bright September sunlight that streamed in through the open front doors.

Jayme Lindberg trudged slowly down the crowded hall, letting the wave of students carry her along. She hated being like this. Invisible. She let the flow of the students carry her to the other side of the hall and sat on the hard, clean, wooden bench bolted into the wall. Jayme sat there and observed the storm of students rushing by. With every pretty face that passes by, Jayme felt a strong hatred for them. Jealously eating her from the inside out.

She took notice of one girl in particular. Leah Odell. Leah had shiny brown, shoulder length hair with platinum blond highlights. She wore brand new clothing. Tight, faded blue jeans, bright colored sneakers, tied loosely, and a skin tight T-shirt with a brand name labeled clearly on the front. These clothes, Jayme imagined were probably bought when Leah was out shopping at a mall with her “BFFs.”

While Leah stood, chatting with her “posse” by the drinking fountain, wearing her fashionably “in” clothes, Jayme sat on the hard bench, all by herself wearing completely the opposite. Jayme looked like a bum compared to Leah. Jayme’s hair which she dyed black with a kit she bought at the Wal-Mart for 7.00$, stuck strait down, covered in grease because she hadn’t washed it in so long. She wore an old beat up “Ramones” T-shirt, black, ripped up wind pants, and shoes that she’s had since the 7th grade. They were completely overused now that she was in 10th.

As Jayme gazed at Leah and her group of air-headed friends in a perfect circle by their lockers, which “magically” were all right next to each other, all she could feel was hate. Partly because she was sickened by how beautiful and perfect they all were, and partly because she wanted to BE one of them.
The early bell rang and Jayme moved with a crowd that was going to her first hour. Completely un-noticed. Again.

She couldn’t do it. She just couldn’t figure out how to talk to people. It was so hard. The words never came. Until she met him. He was a sophomore. And he was new. On the second day of school as Jayme was flowing with the crowd when he bumped by her. She glanced up and saw his beautiful brown hair flowing perfectly as he casually strolled by. He caught her glance; she was mesmerized by the beauty of his eyes. And for once, Jayme stopped. She stopped in her tracks in the middle of the hall. She was noticed.

“I’m Jayme.” She sputtered as if she HAD to say it. Those were the first words Jayme had said since she answered a question in math a few days ago.
She NEEDED to talk to him again. She just had this feeling inside of her. She HAD to.

“Get out of the way!” She heard someone screech. She realized she was still standing there. Quickly, Jayme spun around, searching frantically through the jungle of students for him. He was gone. She couldn’t see any trace of him. So Jayme went back to being invisible. Thoughts raced trough her mind. Who was he? Why did he make her feel like this? And most importantly, will she ever see him again?

At lunch all of Jayme’s questions were answered. She sat in her normal spot. In the large, bright cafeteria filled with circular tables, Jayme sat in the far corner at a table with John and Lisa. John was just as not-talkative as Jayme. He leaned against the wall which was about 6 inches from the wall with his feet resting on the table and stared at the ceiling. He wore thick rimmed glasses and black clothing. Lisa sat right across from Jayme, closed off from the rest of the world with her ear buds to her old, beat up silver ipod mini. You could hear the hard rock music screaming out of the headphones if you listened close enough.

Jayme sat down at the table without being noticed and took a look at the huge cafeteria. Crowds of students traveled through the lunch lines and made their way to tables, already separated into cliques on the second day of school. It was then that Jayme saw him. She felt bad for him, he was already being absorbed into Leah’s group of air-headed dummies. But wait...was he coming over towards her table? Are the cards turning for once? Jayme’s heart was beating so fast she could practically hear it. She put her head down towards her food and hoped to god that he was coming to sit by her.






Leah


“Leah who WAS that?” Amber asked, with a little bit of jealousy in her voice.

“The most amazing thing on planet earth...” Leah replied, staring into space, mesmerized.

Jack. His name was Jack. Leah remembered that from her 30 second disgrace of a conversation with him. How could she have made herself look so foolish in front of him? He had just said hi, but Leah was too amazed by him to reply fast enough. After about 5 seconds of staring at him she answered. Hi, I’m Leah, she had said. I’m Jack was his response. Then he flashed his perfect smile and walked away. He was different. Leah could tell that right away. But somehow he still amazed her. He wore tight, but baggy blue jeans, old beat-up converse high tops, and a black, name brand shirt. Leah didn’t even care about his clothes. It was his hair, and his eyes. She thought they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen. His hair flowed as he walked, brown, shiny, and perfect. His eyes, an amazing array of light and dark blues.

She could see it now. Leah, being the most popular and beautiful girl in the whole school, getting asked out by the new mysterious cutie. She had her ways, she could make it happen.

“Amber, tell Jack” her heart fluttered as she said his name “to sit by us at lunch today. It’s his first day, he’ll need somewhere to sit, and what better place then by us?”

“Alright.” Amber said with a fake smile plastered on fake make-up covered face, again obeying another one of Leah’s orders.

After the 4th period bell, all Leah could think about was Jack. What would she say to him? She’s always so bubbly, but Jack makes her...nervous. She shook that thought out of her mind and hurried to the cafeteria. Amber, like a dog begging for water, by Leah’s side following her there.

Leah got to the cafeteria and right away, she saw him. He just got out of the lunch line, an outsider with no where to go. Luckily Leah got there when she did. She casually strolled up to him, shaking away the last of her nerves. She put her hand on his left shoulder, feeling the warmth of his cotton shirt. “Hi Jack, do you remember me?” she said, with a bright smile glued to her face.

“Yeah,” he said. “Jayme right?” he smiled at Leah, as if he had actually gotten her name right.

“Umm…no, it’s Leah.” She said, removing her hand from his shoulder. Where had she heard that name before? Jayme. Oh yeah! Jayme. The freak who sits in the corner of the lunch room. The geek with no friends. The girl who never talks. How on earth could he mistake her for Jayme?

“Oh sorry, there are so many new faces in this school. I guess hers just stuck with me the most. Do you know where she is sitting?”

“Umm, yeah I do. But do you want to sit by us today? I mean it is your first day of school, I wouldn’t want you to sit by her and her friends today.”
Leah said, plotting a way to keep Jack away from Jayme.

“And why not?” Jack asked, getting a bit annoyed.

“Cause she’s kind of a freak,” Leah leaned over and whispered.

“Well I don’t care..where is she sitting?”

“Are you joking me?” Leah scoffed. “You actually would rather sit by HER than me?” He looked at Leah hard, then after about 10 seconds he replied,

“Yes.” Leah couldn’t believe it. She pointed over to the corner where Jayme was sitting by her freaks of friends and let him decide. But without hesitating, Jack moved toward Jayme’s table, tray in his hands, never looking back at Leah.



Jack



It was already Jack’s 3rd week of school. It went by so fast. So much had happened in so little time... On his first day at Richardson High. He had already been asked to sit with one of the most popular girls at school. Leah Odell. She had the usual tight name-brand clothes, perfect hair, and makeup to make her look much prettier than she actually was. She also had the undying self-confidence and the clone best friend who followed her around everywhere.

Any other guy would have taken the opportunity to sit with her right away. But Jack decided otherwise. He had already found who he wanted be with. He knew it was certain. Jayme. The second he saw her he knew he needed to talk to her, to get to know her, he NEEDED her. When Leah asked him to sit with her, all he could think of was Jayme. She wasn’t pretty like Leah, she didn’t have the clothes that Leah did, but she was different. Just like Jack. It seemed that as soon as he saw Jayme he was drawn to her.

The first time he talked to her was at lunch his first day of school. She was quiet at first. Like she didn’t know what to say. The other people at the table, Josh and Lisa, looked at her like she was insane, they later explained to Jack that she had never talked to anyone, so it was completely strange to hear her talking to him.

Jack and Jayme started talking all the time. They were inseparable. She had no friends before Jack. No one to talk to. Now she was happy and talkative so she had plenty of new friends. It was amazing. No one would have imagined that one new kid could change this much in Jayme’s life in so little time.

There were some complications though. Leah was completely jealous of Jayme. She wanted Jack all to herself. Jack wanted nothing to do with her. Leah tried so many things to get to him, putting nasty signs about him up all around school, telling Jayme that Jack cheats on her, and getting her slave dog, Amber to try to kiss him in front of Jayme so he would leave her. But none of those things turned out the way Leah planned.

In the end, Leah gave up. She realized nothing could stop Jayme and Jack from being together, they were the weirdest, but best couple in the school. They trusted each other with their lives. They were drawn to each other by forces they couldn’t explain. They loved each other for who they were. Not what they wore. Jayme wasn’t the invisible freak anymore. She was noticed.