1.Miss Invisible-Marie Digby

A Chapter by kaya manner

There’s a girl

Who sits under the bleachers

Just another day eating alone

And though she smiles

There is something she’s hiding

And she can’t find a way to relate…

“What are you doing?”

Ty turned around: there was a small brunette peering at him from the door. Ty figured she must’ve been from the freshman floor since he knew mostly everyone on the sophomore floor and she looked too young to be a junior or a senior. She wore a beanie over her short hair that reached down to her neck, her bangs covering one eye. Her skin reminded him of a porcelain doll. He noticed that she wore the t-shirt he had always wanted to buy with the name of his favorite band, it reached down below the belt of her skinny jeans.

“I’m looking for a ring,” he explained, crouched under the teacher’s desk. “You’ve seen it?”

“Depends, what does it look like?”

“It’s black and sil…”

She was kneeling beside him with her hands cupped inside each other. She was smaller than he thought. About half his 6’5. “What?” Ty asked.

She opened her hands. “Is this it? I found it when I was in this classroom earlier. Thought someone would be looking for this.”

He nodded, putting the ring on his finger. “You look familiar; do I have a class with you?”

“Nah, I take freshman classes downstairs.”

“Then what are you doing on the sophomore floor?”

She shrugged, turning to leave. “You’re welcome, by the way.”

“Wait,” he called out to her. “What’s your name?”

She turned her head to face him. “Mickey.”

“I’m Ty.”

She nodded slightly, then kept walking.

“Maybe I’ll see you around?” he called out again.

She flashed a thumb up as she walked out. Students began to fill the room.

“Dude, the hell are you doing in here?” A boy named Davis entered the room. “I have enough classes with you as it is.”

“I was just looking for my ring.” Ty headed towards the door. “Still coming to Game Stop after school?”

“Yea, definitely.”

“’Kay, later, bro.”

East New York Academy of the Arts was located near an avenue of projects and convenience stores. It was four stories high and took up half of Ralph & McDougall. The walls were painted a dull grey, decorated with name plates of every student in the school that they had designed themselves out of cardboard and markers. Most students, mainly the girls, dressed in clothing meant for summer in the middle of a glum, gloomy fall.

The school was located in the center of Bedstuy, right across the street from the projects. The crime rates were high, the people that lived around there were loud and obnoxious, but it was the only art school close by enough that he wouldn’t need to wake up insanely early.

The rest of the day went by as normal for Ty; he dozed off in his first period math class, regretting staying up most of the night playing Minecraft. Took a 45 minute nap during advisory period while everyone else did work, and for the most part tried to remain as low-key and out of trouble as he possibly could. The last thing he needed was for someone to give his dad an excuse to ground him for something that wasn’t his fault, again. But something was different when Ty went downstairs to basement into the cafeteria.

Everything seemed normal in the cafeteria. The cliques were in their usual spots; the Birds -- girls who were loud, obnoxious and demanding -- dominated the tables nearest the cafeteria exit, where no one else dared go. The loners all sat in the back of the cafeteria. The two quiet, sweet twins Ty adored, sat with themselves a few tables from his. The gamer nerds and anime freaks sat at the table dead in the middle of the huge, urine-yellow cafeteria.

Then there were the leftovers. Four students who all had the potential to fit into any of the other cliques but refused to give into the laws of high school society. One was a short, slim, dark-skinned girl with a pixie cut named McKenna Washington. Davis Phillips, a skyscraper with pale skin, shoulder-length black hair and an eyebrow piercing. Kyle Hendrix, a short, Dominican boy with brown, spiky hair. The fourth, another skyscraper, with dark skin and flat-ironed hair that he always kept so that the ends would stay down under his beanie. Ty Nova. As he reached the table, he noticed an addition to the group.

Mickey.

“Sup, guys.” Ty ruffled McKenna’s hair.

“Hey Ty, have you met Mickey? She just transferred.” McKenna was always looking for a new friend.

“We bumped into each other in advisory.” Mickey smirked.

“So that’s why you were in that room.” Davis nudged him. “Putting the moves on an innocent freshman, are we?”

“Nah, bro, it wasn’t like that, she was just helping me find my ring.”

“Ah, you’re losing your touch, man.” Kyle smirked. “So, Mickey was it? Tell us about yourself, what are ya into?”

“Uh, well, I play a lot of video games, and I like anime and listening to music…”

“Sweet,” McKenna cut her off. “Maybe she can come with us to Game Stop.”

“I’d love to,” Mickey’s eyes lit up. “Which one?”

“The one at Kings Plaza.” Ty noticed a scar peeking out from beneath her beanie. “Hey, how’d you get that scar?”

“What?” Her hand reached up and felt it. “Oh that…freak skating accident.” Her eyes dropped away from them, and she pulled her beanie down.