“Way. I was the fat kid, who aside from being picked on was virtually ignored by everyone, but you. You never picked on me and when you passed me in the hallway, you always smiled. That summer, I did nothing but work out and eat healthy. When ninth grade started up, I was thin and muscular. The first girl to ask me out was Julia Hawthorne and I said yes because, well, I don’t know why.

     “I dated so many girls and got popular really fast and had lots of friends. But you, you just disappeared into a nameless crowd and I didn’t see you very much until summer. You worked at the animal shelter, the nursing home, homeless shelter. You did so many nice things for people and you were passed over because of that. But, the thing is, I missed your smile and I know this is going to sound corny, but up until today, I looked at your yearbook picture from eighth grade every night before I went to sleep.”

     Emmaleigh smiled to herself and bowed her head for a moment. She realized that he saw her when she thought she was invisible. As she thought of everything, she started to cry a little. When Samuel noticed this, he pulled the car over and brushed her hair from her face. Her eyeliner was smeared and her mascara was running, and even now, she was more beautiful than all the other girls in school.

     “Em, please don’t cry. I was hoping that you would be happy and look what I’ve gone and done. I’ve made you into a blubbering mess. Come on, smile that beautiful smile of yours and reassure me that I’m not some schmuck.”

     She smiled and looked at him, “You’re not a schmuck and I am happy, not sad.”

     “Good, because you know what? I want you to wear my ring, my jacket, and be my girlfriend.” and he kissed her softly on the forehead like her father used to when she was a little girl. She smiled and nodded, and when she did, Samuel pulled off his class ring and put it on a silver chain and placed it around her neck.

     The two arrived at the football game hand in hand, turning heads of fellow classmates as they walked past. Emmaleigh began to falter and Samuel leaned in and reassured her that things would be okay. Everyone stared and whispered, fans were cheering for the football team, some kids were screaming and Samuel’s friends were waving them over.

     That following Monday, Emmaleigh stood at her locker grabbing her books when Shannon popped up behind her. “So how did the date go with Dream Boy Samuel?”

     “He asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes.” Emmaleigh said smiling from ear to ear.

     Shannon nodded and was about knocked off of her mental rocker when Samuel came up behind them and said, “Hey Shannon, getting all the details from my beautiful girlfriend I see.”

     Emmaleigh laughed at Shannon’s reaction. “Hey Sam.” she said softly and kissed his cheek as he wrapped his arm around her and grabbed her books. “What are you doing?”

     “I’m carrying your books to class. Hey Shannon, got a question for ya?” Samuel said turning his attention to the wide-eyed girl standing beside him. “You still dating Daniel Trenton?”

     “Yeah” Shannon said curiously.

     “I was wondering if you two would want to hang with me and Em tonight? We were thinking about catching a movie and then going to the beach.”

     Daniel showed up just then and crooked his arm around Shannon’s neck, “Hell yeah man. My girl and I need a night out, we’ve been killin ourselves studying all weekend.”

     Samuel shook Daniel’s hand, “Great. See y’all at six.”

     As Emmaleigh and Samuel walked down the hall, she felt wonderful. She had everything she could have ever asked for. What was better, she realized she wasn’t as invisible as she thought, Samuel’s friend knew her and so did the other kids who stopped them to talk to Samuel. As they moved through the mass, she couldn’t help but smile to herself and think, Life’s not that bad.