“Kris!” Ria yelped, face flushing. She pulled the sleeves of her jacket over her wrist, covering the marks.

  Kris, an outgoing football player with dyed golden hair, a six-pack (probably), and the face of a model, smiled handsomely down at her. “Yes, Ria?” he teased.

  Faking a frown, Ria snidely replied, “Just checking if you’ve forgotten your name yet.” She sighed lifting her shoulders in a half-shrug. “It’s bound to happen with the way you play football.”

  “Please. Have you seen the other teams?” Kris scrunched his nose in distaste. Seeing the deadpan look the girl shot him he laughed heartily. “You’ll never understand. So, let me stick with the football and you focus on the math and smart, okay? Honestly, it’s a lot more impressive than me throwing a ball around.”

  Ria couldn’t keep a small snort from escaping her superb control. Forcing herself to look away, the girl started to dig through her bag.

  The rest of the table fell silent. Everyone stared. Why on earth was football captain, “hottest guy in school”, but most importantly, Daphne Mele’s boyfriend… talking to Ria?

  Slamming the huge stack of papers onto the lunch table, Ria pushed them toward Kris. The boy smiled excitedly. He flipped through the pages, trying to make sense of some of the words before giving up. Shaking his head, Kris straightened and announced, “Ria, you are the best.”

  “Whatever,” Ria shrugged, trying to brush off the compliment that sent her pulse racing (just a little faster than usual). She clasped her hands together. “This should be all the notes and homework for this semester and the bottom pile has all the practice tests filled out for history.” Her lips quirked up. “Think of it as a bonus.”

  Holding out a hand she smirked, “Glad doing business with you, sir.”

  “Uh, huh,” Kris quickly shook her outstretched hand, then returned to his original task of stuffing the papers into his football bag. A few stuck out, and the mud from his cleats stained some others, but he didn’t seem too concerned so Ria remained silent.

  “About that,” Kris said, still trying to close the bag. “I’m so sorry Ria but I forgot the money again,” he said, not sounding the least bit sorry.

  “Oh,” Ria blinked. “But we agreed that-”

  “Always so eager to please, Ria! Go to a party or something, you need to loosen up. Think of it as a favor from me!” Kris winked and tapped the table twice. “I’ll get it to you next time, all right?”

  She bit back the comment that this was already the fifth time he “forgot.” Instead, Ria nodded and shot him a thumbs up. What else could she do against the “hottest guy” in school? Her heart raced as she reached over to pick up a fallen note page. Straightening, she stuffed it into his backpack for him.

  Smiling, she said, ‘“Hey, no worries, just-”

  “Thanks. You’re the best, Ria.” And… Kris was already gone.

  Slumping in her seat, Ria clenched her fists and cursed herself. It didn’t matter how cute he was, Kris was off-limits! And honestly, a jerk, as well. But ever since he had returned her earphones after she had dropped them, Ria couldn’t help but feel horrible at the thought of pressuring him

  Ria sighed. She glanced down at the brown leather (most likely, extremely expensive) wallet she had in her hand. If Kris didn’t want to pay her, he didn’t have to. She took out the hundred and two dollars owed to her and tossed the wallet in the trash with her fallen sandwich. What a waste of good food.

  “Wow,” breathed the guy sitting next to Isha. He turned to the ASB president. “Looks like your friend has some connections!”

  But the auburn-haired girl ignored him. Arms crossed, Isha’s lips were downturned in a frown. She stared disapprovingly at Ria.

  “Ria,” called Isha beckoning the girl over. She paused, as if considering her next words, before shaking her head and saying, “You know you shouldn’t be messing around with Kris.”

  Brows furrowing, Ria turned. She stared at her friend in confusion. What on Earth? Ria tilted her head. “What?”

  Isha shot her an unimpressed look.

  The two girls stared at one another, an uneasy tension growing between them. Suddenly, the bell rang. The other students at the table breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief.

  Kevin tugged on Isha’s hand, pulling her out of the staring contest she had with Ria. If looks could kill… Kevin shuddered.

  “Hey, slowpoke, I love you but if you don’t hurry up….” Kevin trailed off.

  Isha nodded and began to put her stuff away.

  Ria got up as well, walking over to the couple.

  “Hey, I’m so sorry about…” Ria paused. What was she apologizing for?

  Isha looked up and smiled. “Apology accepted.” Getting up, she patted Ria’s shoulder. “I’m glad you understand.” Taking Kevin’s hand, she waved to Ria. “Well, we’re off! See ya!”

  Ria watched the two walk away with a complicated expression on her face. She shook it off and pushed down the ugly emotions that had started building in her chest. What was she doing? Those two were her friends! The girl pinched herself in punishment and hissed at the pain.

  Maybe Isha was right. Interacting with Kris might start bringing a lot of unwanted attention to her. Ria didn’t need to deal with all that extra pressure. He was the football star and she… the girl sighed. Ria was a nobody.

  “That’s right,” she murmured. “I’m just a nobody.”

  Suddenly, Ria felt two eyes dig into her back. Her sixth sense was ringing like crazy! The girl looked around but the culprit was nowhere to be seen.

  “Nobody? Are you nobody?” a scratchy voice asked.

  The girl jumped.

  “What the-” Ria was starting to freak out a bit. Her head snapped around. Where had that voice come from?

  The sounds of the people around her began to blur and fade. Her ears felt plugged… as if she was underwater. Ria tried to focus but couldn’t. The girl could barely make out the words of the conversation at the next table.

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  “Pfft, children playing at being kings and queens,” the scratchy voice cackled. The sound echoed in the air. The voice was strong and clear. “But you know what it really takes, don’t you,” there was a pause and then a sneer from the voice taunted, “Four?”

  Rubbing her throbbing temple, Ria continued to search for the mysterious person.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  Was Ria finally going insane? A heavy pressure pushed down on her. Ria stumbled. Her finger held the edge of the lunch table in a death grip. She groaned. The pressure continued to build. It felt as if the world was collapsing on top of her. Breathing hard, Ria struggled to orient herself. What was going on?

  “What’s wrong, Four?” The voice snorted, “That is you, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Ria gasped.

  “You will,” came the ominous response.

  Then, as soon as it had come, the pressure and presence disappeared.

  Ria fell into her seat. The rush of all her senses returning at once had her head spinning….almost as if she had just run through a forest of murderous medieval wannabes. Huh. Eyes cast down at her lap, Ria’s heart pounded in fear.

  Ria stumbled to her feet. She studied her fellow peers around her and observed… nothing. It was just normal voices and people going on with their lives. Things continued as normal. No one had even noticed.

  “Hey! Watch it,” a voice called. Ria startled at the sharp sound. She mumbled a short apology.

  Shaking herself out of it, Ria forced one foot ahead of the other. It was probably just heat stroke or a random statement from a conversation nearby that she hadn’t noticed. Ria tried to ignore the fact that the scratchy voice had clearly been talking to her. Or the fact that the cursed number was mentioned again…

  The bell rang once more. Ria didn’t have the strength to groan like her peer. Everyone in the hallway was officially late.

  Bodies crowded against one another as they headed up the stairs. Elbows flew and toes were stepped on. Ria kept her head down, counting the steps.

  She ignored the echoing whisper and the familiar name bouncing across the walls. “Come find me, Four.”

  “You know you want to.”

  Coincidences had never been so terrifying.

  …….

  Ria kicked at a pen. It spun off in a random direction, getting lost in the mass of feet. Isha and Kevin walked in front of her, but the two were stuck in their own lovey-dovey world.

  Waving to them and getting no response, Ria headed off in her own direction.

  Although there were no more weird voices, Ria still felt on edge. She blamed the weird dream. The stupid thing had messed up her whole day!

  Hanging her head, Ria let out a defeated sigh. From the corner of her eye, she saw Zach and whatever his friend’s name was whispering to their group of friends. They made grand gestures and pointed at their phones. They visibly stiffened. Two frightened eyes turned to meet hers and quickly turned away.

  If only they knew that Ria had only met Principal O’Malley once… and that was before Marcel started that whole Geometry Girl story.

  Still, Ria cursed herself. Why did she have to make such a big deal about that? Was it fun? Sure. But it was really going against her principle of staying under the radar. And Kris’ wallet? Did he deserve to lose it? Absolutely, because he was never going to pay her back. But what if somebody saw her? The adorable idiot would be a pain if he went crying to his girlfriend.

  Ria sighed again. What had the cloaked figure called her? Your Highness. Ria snorted, as if.

  Honestly, she didn’t even need to be a “Your Highness”; if Ria had even half of Daphne’s popularity or Kira’s natural talent, she wouldn’t need to worry about anything else. Maybe then, she could actually be something… something other than a nobody that was. Ria sighed for the hundredth time that day.

  Unlike Ria, everyone else was just glad the school day was over. The fields and blacktop swelled with students as people made their way toward the gates. Hundreds of voices caught up and chatted despite having only been apart for a few hours at most.

  Walking past an old oak tree, Ria hopped over one of its low-hanging branches. Suddenly, like deja vu, her right foot caught on a root and she tripped. Ria almost expected a strong, calloused grip to pull her up. It didn’t. Ria fell and hit the dirt with a painful THUD.

  Before she could begin her own pity party, a voice coughed. Shoot- Ria looked up to stare straight at another person’s face.

  Hurriedly crawling backwards Ria stuttered out a quick apology. She rushed to her feet.

  The other person, a girl with soft brown curls and large brown eyes, nodded and smiled kindly. “Don’t worry about it.”

  But Ria’s attention was on the bright purple crown on the girl’s head. Her earrings were a furry yellow animal that Ria had never seen before and her necklace had a fossilized… scorpion?

  Brushing herself off, the brown-haired girl stood up daintily from her spot under the oak. She had been resting against the old tree’s trunk, but she didn’t appear too bothered by Ria’s interruption.

  The girl pointed at a bag resting in the grass whose strap Ria was stepping on. Leaning down, Ria picked the bag up and handed it to the other girl.

  “Thanks,” the girl said before walking away.

  Ria could only watch her leave. To just sit alone and watch the world, and not care how others viewed her? Forget Daphne and Kira, Ria wanted to have this girl’s confidence. She pictured herself sitting by the tree for lunch with no talks of politics or football-themed scrooges bothering her. The thought brought an unbidden smile to her lips.

  Leaving the gates of Speculum Academy, Ria made for the busy street. She stared at the bus stop’s sign. Right now, her mom would be busy working at the hospital. Usually, she would cross the street and walk the rest of the way home…

  The cross light turned green and the bus came to a stop in front of her.

  The doors creaked open. The bus driver smiled at her, “Hello Ms. Ria!” he said cheerfully.

  Ria cracked a small smile. “Hi Milo!”

  “Heading to the hospital?” Milo asked.

  Ria nodded. She tapped her card and headed towards the back of the bus.

  Rumbling, the bus protested and groaned, but began to move once more. Gripping the overhead strap, Ria watched the city pass by outside the window. She thought of the person she was going to see.

  Two weeks ago, she had gone to the hospital to drop off her mom’s phone. In her hurry, the woman had left it at home in the morning.

  Mama Regina was the head nurse of the long-term illness ward and with the staff shortage had been stuck working most of the overtime shifts. Seeing her daughter sitting and waiting for her, and knowing her tendency to blend into the background, she unofficially assigned Ria to help out with one of the coma patients. When Ria first went in, she had been surprised at the spaciousness of the hospital room. Its VIP status and distance from the others were why Ria was sent in the first place.

  A wilted flower sat on the bedside table and murky city lights came in from the window.

  Approaching the bed, Ria finally caught sight of the coma patient, a pale woman that looked to be a couple years younger than Ria’s mother, hooked up to beeping machines and an IV drip.

  Finishing up her tasks, Ria went to leave when a rough voice from the bed begged, “Please don’t…gasp leave. Nobody…come back.”

  Ria rushed over to the bedside, only to find the patient had fallen back into the realm of unconsciousness. Her heart squeezed for the poor woman. It was obvious that nobody really visited her. Ria had chosen to be someone that faded into the background and was easily forgotten, but this woman… who knew what she wanted?

  Taking it upon herself, Ria brought fresh flowers and cleaned up the room every time she went. It became a sort of after-school ritual for her. Despite never receiving any reply, she found comfort in talking to the patient. Was it weird? Probably. But it was also nice to not always be the listener and to have someone to talk to.

  Ria was brought back to the present as the bus slowed.

  Like any public transportation system during rush hour, the bus was hot and crowded, with most of the seats taken. Some people stood, hanging onto the overhead grip, while others held onto the metal railings. People had their heads buried into everything from newspapers to phones. A middle-aged man in a business suit was drooling as he slept, face smooshed against the window.

  Ria’s eyes narrowed. There was her chance! As the doors to the bus opened, Ria shoved her way through the wall of people. It was a difficult battle, but eventually, she managed to push a skater boy out of the way and take the open seat.

  The boy glared at her but she ignored it. Setting her bag on top of her legs, Ria stared out the window as the bus unloaded and more passengers got on.

  With a creak, the doors closed. Rumbling, the bus got off to a rolling start and began to move. There were faint murmurs as passengers talked in low voices to one another or on the phone.

  A slightly hunched figure stumbled. They clutched onto the handrail but stood unsteadily, swaying back and forth. With a blanket covering their head and a hospital gown on, the other passengers gave them a wide berth.

  The figure shivered violently despite the crowded heat. They stumbled forward with a zombie-like walk. Freaky, people thought.

  Ria saw the figure and sighed. This person looked like they were about to collapse any second…. Ria got up.

  A bony hand shot out and grabbed hers.

  Ria tried not to panic.

  From beneath the blanket, two pale eyes looked up and stared deep into her soul.

  “Four?”

  Ria screamed.

  POST-CHAPTER MINI THEATER:

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