Chapter 1
If there was one thing I had perfected in sixteen years, it was the quiet, unnoticed rhythm of invisibility.
Not the magical kind, just the uncomfortable reality of being the girl no one remembered twice. The girl whose name teachers paused before reading. The girl who blended into hallways like an extra in a scene she didn't audition for.
At Eastwood High, people like me drifted through the world with soft steps and softer voices. We weren't bullied—we just weren't seen. And most days, that was perfectly fine with me.
Or at least, that's what I told myself.
That Monday morning—rainy, gloomy, clingy-uniform kind of morning—began like any other. I stood at my locker, pushing my glasses back up my nose as I fumbled for my literature notebook. My fingers felt stiff from the cold, and my hair, which I had tried so hard to tame, was already losing its battle with the humidity.
Then it happened.
The shift.
The sudden rise in energy, like lightning crackling through the hallway.
Girls squealed.
Boys straightened up.
Someone sprayed perfume—strawberry scented and way too strong for 8 a.m.
There was only one explanation.
Aiden Cole had arrived.
Eastwood's golden boy. The reason half the school woke up early. Captain of the basketball team. Taller than everyone else. Smarter than he pretended to be. Handsome in that effortless way stories describe but real life rarely delivers. His dark hair always fell perfectly into place, no matter how windy it was. His smile could melt ice, attitudes, and maybe even bad grades.
He walked down the hall like he owned every tile, every locker, every heartbeat in the building. People shifted out of his way like he carried his own invisible force field. Girls adjusted their skirts and practiced their cutest laughs. Even the teachers softened around him like he was the child they wished they had.
Me?
I stared deeper into my locker, pretending my notebook was the most fascinating thing in the universe.
If I didn't lift my head, the universe wouldn't remind me how forgettable I was.
Someone bumped into me on purpose.
"Move, new girl."
I wasn't new. I'd been here since ninth grade. But invisible people might as well be strangers every day.
I murmured, "I'm not—"
But the girl was already gone.
I finally found my notebook and closed my locker gently, trying to slip away without meeting anyone's eyes. But the hallway was blocked—girls taking selfies, boys messing around, and right in the middle of the commotion stood Aiden.
Laughing. Smiling. Perfect.
I swallowed and tried to turn away, but then—he looked up.
And he saw me.
Not in the vague, passing way most people see invisible girls. His gaze paused. Focused. Curious. Almost… surprised.
My breath faltered.
Aiden's smile froze for a fraction of a second. Like he recognized something. Like he was trying to place me in a memory he didn't know he had.
My heart thumped painfully.
Before I could make sense of anything, someone shoved me from behind. I stumbled forward. My books slipped from my hands and hit the floor with a loud slap that echoed far too dramatically for my liking.
Heat rushed to my cheeks.
Perfect. Exactly what I needed—an audience for my humiliation.
As I crouched to gather my things, praying the ground would open and swallow me whole, I sensed a shadow fall over me.
Warm. Close. Still.
Then a voice—low, deep, unexpectedly gentle—broke through the noise.
"You okay?"
I froze.
Everyone froze.
Because that voice…
That warmth…
That concern…
It belonged to him.
Slowly, like someone afraid of breaking a dream, I lifted my head.
Aiden Cole stood in front of me—hands in his pockets, brows slightly furrowed, looking directly at me as if he had known me forever.
As if I wasn't invisible at all.
In that moment, something in my world shifted—quietly, powerfully—like someone had turned the saturation up and I was fading into color for the first time.
"Here," he said softly. He bent and handed me my notebook.
Our fingers brushed.
Electric.
My breath caught.
And when his eyes met mine again, filled with a quiet question I couldn't understand yet…
I realized this was the moment everything in my life would change.
The moment before he looked my way—
and the world finally noticed I was here.
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