"Class, we have a new student. Would you please introduce yourself and tell us where you're from?" A shy looking boy in a worn-out red hoodie and a one curly hair stood at the front of his new 11th grade English class. He took a deep breath and said quietly, "My name is Matthew Williams, I'm from Canada."
"Thank you, Matthew," said his new teacher. "You can go take the seat over there." His gaze followed where her finger was pointing and moved to go sit at the empty desk. A boy in a bomber jacket was in the seat next to him and he also wore what he assumed was a football jersey with the number 1 on it. 'Great,' he thought, 'A jock.'
Matthew had always been a shy person. It wasn't that he didn't like people, they just never really paid much attention to him. It didn't bug him to much though, he didn't mind being invisible. At his last school he had been invisible, this school he assumed would be no different.
Matthew took his seat and opened the book he had been given to the page written up on the board. As he began writing down his assignment he felt a poke in his side. The jock was trying to get his attention. He tuned his head to see what he wanted and was met by a big goofy grin. "Hey, you're from Canada right? That's so cool. It must be really cold up there huh?" Well that was unexpected.
"Um yeah, it can get pretty cold up there."
"I'm not a big fan of cold weather, oh by the way, I'm Alfred, Alfred Jones. Nice to meet you." He introduced himself, offering his hand. 'Really, someone notices me, wants to talk to me?' Warily he accepted the hand shake."Nice to met you too." 'What a weird jock'
~TIME LEAP~
Matthew stood at his open locker, putting his books in his bag. He had done it. He had made it through the day invisible. Invisible to everyone, that is, except for a jock in a bomber jacket. As it turned out Alfred was in all of his classes. And as it also turned out, he liked to talk. A lot. Matthew learned many things about him through out the day, because Alfred was his own favorite topic. Three in particular was that Alfred loved food, football, and horror movies. 'What a combo' he thought to himself. He had yet to understand why that boy was even interested in talking to him in the first place. As he closed his locker consumed in his thoughts he was startled back to reality by Alfred standing just on the other side of him. "Hey man! You coming to the game tonight?"
"Uh, game?"
"Come on dude, the football game!"
'Oh right, football.' How could he forget? "Um, probably not."
"Awww, why not?"
He thought for a moment. "Well, I don't really know much about football, and I've still got a lot of, um, unpacking to do." Both were true.
"Oh ok, I got ya. Hey, if you give me your number I can text you when we win." 'Someone was confident.' "Besides, I might need you to give me the math assignment, I forgot to write it down." 'And lazy.' So Matthew scribbled down his number on a piece of paper and handed it to Alfred.
"Thanks man." He started to walk off then called over his shoulder, "See ya later Mattie!" and flashed him that goofy grin again. Matthew stood there, dumbfounded. 'Did he just call me...Mattie?'