Chapter 5: Becoming Invisible

Jason returned to class three days later, his arm draped around the class beauty's waist.

He looked completely different—cool, detached, like nothing had happened. The whole class watched as he swaggered in, Madison Lee at his side.

The class beauty, Madison Lee, was a dance student. She was 5'6" tall, weighing only 102 pounds. Me, Emily Carter: 5'4", 154 pounds.

She wore her uniform skirt perfectly, her hair shining like something out of a shampoo commercial. I slouched a little more in my seat, wishing I could shrink down to nothing.

The PE assistant couldn't help but tease, "Jason, the lone wolf finally found his mate~~ Is it real this time?"

His voice was syrupy and sly. I cringed, waiting for the laughter to start again.

Madison pouted, pretending to be annoyed. "What do you mean? Am I the kind of girl who'd let someone hold my waist so casually?"

She giggled, batting her lashes. The other girls whispered behind their hands, half admiring, half jealous.

Jason lazily raised his eyebrows, silently agreeing with her.

He just grinned, like the world was his for the taking. The old Jason—my Jason—was nowhere to be found.

Everyone cheered and congratulated them.

A couple of kids even whistled. Someone started clapping. I kept my head down, biting the inside of my cheek so I wouldn’t cry.

I lowered my head to my workbook, loosening my grip on my pen.

I squeezed it so hard my knuckles turned white. The numbers on the page blurred together, but I made myself focus.

Thankfully, no one brought up what happened that day, and no one bothered to mock me anymore. That was already enough.

Invisibility was a relief. I could finally breathe, even if each breath felt a little heavier than the last.