Miss Invisible
Kelly Sabey
Disclaimer: I don't own Power Rangers: Dino Thunder, Disney and Saban have that under control. I don't own the song "Miss Invisible" either, it was written by Marie Digby for the Pantene Pro-Voice competition 2004 (VOTE FOR MARIE!), and listening to it inspired this short, but sweet song-fic.
Summary:
She couldn't believe how ignorant he was being. It amazed her at how he could just turn his intelligence off like a light bulb.
"Connor, what the hell is your problem anyway? Is it physically impossible for you to admit that you're wrong?" she said acidly to him.
"When I am wrong, Kira, I will admit it. But you don't understand what you're doing. Getting involved with Trent is bad news, everyone knows that. He's the White Ranger, Kira. Or maybe, perhaps you forgot that. After all, someone did say that love makes you blind, but in your case, it's clouding all of your senses." He replied, with equal amounts of venom.
"I would never expect you to understand, McKnight. Besides, this so called advice is coming from someone who has never had a meaningful relationship in his life."
"Yeah," he questioned, cocking his head angrily, "at least I've had some form of relationships Kira." She tried to hold back all of her emotions as his words stung her. "…Save it for your writing…Save it for the stage..." she kept telling herself. But it was too much; she felt her eyes welling with tears. She glared daggers at him.
"My personal life…" she whispered dangerously, "…is of no concern to you, Connor." She emphasized his name, as if it would be the last time she would ever say it. She turned on her heel, and made a B-Line for Hayley's Cyber-Space to get ready for her first set of the night, and after her encounter with Connor, she knew what song she would be playing.
He stared after her as she ran away from him. God, how could he have been so stupid! "Way to go McKnight…" he told himself mentally "…What a great way to show a girl that you like her, meddle in her personal life, yell about it, and then make it KNOWN that you're meddling in her personal life." He ran his hand through his hair, before shaking his head, and walking into Cyber-Space.
Inside he was less-than greeted by Ethan, who, as usual, was completely engrossed in a computer game.
"Man," he said disbelievingly as Connor sat down, not taking his eyes off the computer screen. "Did you piss Kira off or what?"
"Yeah, what else is new?" He replied sitting back in his chair, and placing his hand on the table next to him.
"So what did you guys fight about this time? Sports, School, who is or isn't a dumb jock?" Connor frowned sarcastically and smacked the back of Ethan's head lightly. "What? That always seems to be what you guys are fighting about these days."
Connor sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it." He looked down at the table.
"Ohh…." Ethan said excitedly. "I think I know what's going on. You like her don't you?"
"What?" Connor said very unconvincingly.
"Dude, you are such an easy read, you're like, totally into her aren't you?"
"I'm really not though." Connor said with fecicious dismissal.
"Yeah, whatever man. Hey, she's starting her set, I'm gonna go up and watch, you coming?"
"Nah, I think I'll just chill back here. Sit this one out. She probably doesn't want to see me right now, I might screw her up."
"Alright man." Ethan replied shrugging his shoulders. Connor nodded to him as he walked off towards the stage, where Kira was, indeed, starting her first set of the night. He stared at her, almost longingly, wishing that he could be up there. But he couldn't bring himself to face her yet, not after all the terrible things he had just said to her. He heard her clear voice coming through the speakers.
"Hey everybody." She said with a small smile. "This is a song that I wrote about a year or two ago about how I felt about high school, so, I hope you guys enjoy it. Here it goes."
There's a girl who sits under the bleachers
Just another day eating alone
And though she smiles
There is something just hiding
And she can't find a way to relate
She just goes unnoticed
As the crowd passes by
And she'll pretend to be pissy
When inside she just wants to cry
She looked out into the crowd, seeing some familiar faces, and some unfamiliar ones. Ethan and Dr. O were there, standing next to one another, faces lit up in seeing her doing what she loved. Even Hayley had taken a break from bar tending, and computer genius-ing to come and watch. But one face that she missed, and missed greatly, was the warm, welcoming smile of Connor, though she'd never admit it. She scanned the crowd for him, and finally found him sitting at a table in the back by himself, looking up at her, almost apologetically. But for what she couldn't figure out.
And she'll say
Take a little look at the life of miss always invisible
Look a little closer, I
really really want you to, put yourself in her shoes
Take another look at the face of miss always invisible
Look a little harder and
Maybe then you will see, Why she waits for the day
When you'll ask her, her name
It wasn't as though he had a lack of things to apologize for, but she never expected it to affect him this way. Even after their biggest fights, she could always count on seeing his smiling face at the front row of all of her sets, regardless of what they had said to one another. She tried not to let her hurt show, even though Connor had always told her she was an open book, and that "hiding her feelings had never been her strong point."
And the beginning
In The first weeks of class
She did everything to try and fit in
But the others
Couldn't seem to get past
All the things that mismatched on the surface
And she would close her eyes, when they laughed
As she fell down the stairs
And the more that they joked and the more that they screamed
She retreated to where she is now
He sat there silently, listening to the words as she sang them with her angelic voice. She almost rendered him to tears. Had he been one of these "others" that couldn't look past the surface? While he knew that Kira was of the quiet breed, he never would have guessed that she had this many insecurities about herself. Had he helped her to write this song? Had he been part of the inspiration for it? It was more than he could bear, just thinking about it. He looked to her eyes. She always sang with so much passion, as if every word was coming from her heart.
And she'll sing
Take a little look at the life of miss always invisible
Look a little harder, I
Really really want you to put yourself in her shoes,
Yeah
Take another look at the face of miss always invisible
Look a little closer, and maybe then you will see
Why she waits for the day, when you'll ask her, her name
Then he realized, how was he acting now? Sitting in the back of the room, trying not to let her know that he was noticing her, trying to hide his feelings exactly the way she had described. He felt penetrated, a feeling he normally tried to avoid at all costs. But this feeling was enlightening, like an epiphany almost. He realized that she was right, although he hadn't been wrong that exact time, it was almost physically impossible for him to admit that he was wrong. In fact, he almost refused to believe that he had any faults at all. She was right in almost everything she told him, and he hated himself for it. But instead of sitting in the corner, pouting about it, he decided for the first time in his life to admit to his faults, and set things right. Pushing himself away from the table, he stood to watch her do the thing that she loved most in the world…Sing her heart out. As he gently pushed his way through the gathering crowd, to the front of everything in his normal place, he watched her carefully making sure that he didn't miss a beat.
Kira looked out to the back of the room, a tactic she had learned from one of her older friends who had also been a musician. "If you get nervous, look for a focal point in the back of the room, it will help you block out everyone who's watching you and give you the space you need to focus on yourself and your guitar…Nothing else." She held her head high as she stared the wood of the wall down, trying not to cry. A change in surroundings in front of her made her eyes dart from their focal point in the back of the room, to the space directly in front of her, and slightly to the left. Connor, despite everything he had said, despite everything she had done, took his usual spot, supporting her in her endeavors, as she finally knew he always would.
She looked at him, long and hard. Something had changed about him; it wasn't a physical change as that would be physically impossible for such a thing to occur in the past 5 minutes. It was one of those things that you could just tell by looking at someone, something had changed. He seemed older, more mature, and more open than he had during their fight. It was almost as if something had changed on the inside, that he had come to some drastic realization. He looked her in the eyes, and she was captivated. For the first time, she felt like she could see through him, and she never wanted that to end. She held his gaze for the last few bars of her song, singing with more fervor and passion than she ever thought herself capable.
And one day, just the same as the last
Just a day spent counting the time
Came a boy, who sat under the bleachers
Just a little bit farther behind
She broke her intense stare-down to thank the audience, and then set her guitar down to take a break. She walked down the stairs casually, and was greeted halfway down by Connor.
"Kira, can I talk to you? Outside?" He asked quietly. She looked him in the eyes, and nodded, following him out the back door of Hayley's to have a much needed conversation that she hoped would be civil.
