Charlie had always felt like he was invisible at Pine Hills High School. Or, perhaps it was more accurate to say that he felt more like a school employee than a student, invisible in the same way that Daryl the security guard was invisible to the high school kids. Or the custodians, or the guy who maintained the sports fields. Charlie had joined the AV department his first year in high school, and by junior year he was the student supervisor. He was always at the football games, always at the basketball games, always at every event, but he was always there working, and no one paid any attention to him.
Now, suddenly, everyone could see him. The story of the cafeteria incident had travelled quickly around the school and now it seemed like everyone knew what had happened. Everyone knew Michelle had confronted him in the middle of the cafeteria. Everyone knew she had run away crying, and he'd chased after her. They were happy to fill in the rest of the details themselves.
People he rarely talked to now came up to him as if he was an old friend. Jerrod Sanders threw his arm around Charlie in the hallway, leaned in like they were co-conspirators and whispered, "Charlie! What's this I hear about you got something going on with Michelle?" The skateboarders that inhabited the bench behind the auditorium chorused "Way to go, Charlie!" when he walked by.
Myra Tenney and a group of junior girls surrounded him at his locker, with expectant smiles and twinkling eyes, to tell him that they would deliver a message to Michelle if he wanted. Also to share with him an assortment of other rumors they had heard, as if he was part of their gossip ring. His response, "This is between me and Michelle," only caused the girls to giggle and exchange meaningful looks.
He didn't want to talk to anyone but Michelle, but she was now impossible to find. He wandered the hallways, searching for a glimpse of her, even staking out her locker, but she never seemed to be around. He thought maybe she had called in sick, but then he glimpsed her at the end of the day, far off at the other end of the hall, walking with a group of her friends. He rushed down the hall trying to catch her, but by the time he reached where he'd seen her, she was gone.
Charlie had to face Ronni in the AV room. She approached him, looking pensive. "Charlie, did you already ask Michelle Santos to prom?" she asked in a low voice.
"No!" he said. "Look... I know there's some rumors going around..."
"I overheard some boys talking about it." Ronni chewed her bottom lip. "They said you had to choose between Michelle and me and you chose me. Which is good, I guess, but some of the things they were saying about me weren't very nice... like why would you choose someone like me over someone like her. They said you were crazy to pick me..."
Charlie shook his head. "I'm sorry... I hope you just ignored them..."
"I'm good at ignoring negativity, most of the time. But geez, Charlie... when you asked me to the prom, I didn't expect all this drama... I thought we were just two friends going together..."
"I know." Charlie rubbed his forehead, trying to push away the throbbing in his temple. "Here's what happened. I met Michelle on a weekend when we were both at the school, when the school was pretty empty. She was doing spirit squad stuff, I was editing in the bay. We went out a few times. Three times. Honestly, I didn't think she liked me that much. She hardly ever talked to me when we were at school, kinda like she didn't want anyone to know she had gone out with me. So we stopped dating and I thought that was the end of it. But then she got upset that I asked you to the prom instead of her, and she let me know in the cafeteria in front of everyone."
"So... would you rather go with her?" Ronni gazed at him.
Charlie remembered his moment of epiphany the day after Third Michelle. Whatever was going on in Michelle's head, he didn't need to be the one to make sense of it. "I want to go with you. That's why I asked you. I didn't ask her."
"Okay." Ronni nodded. "Have you talked to Michelle?"
"Not yet."
"You should."
"I will." Charlie looked towards the glass window, the window where he had seen Michelle walking naked that first Saturday.
"Girls can be like that, you know," Ronni said. "My brother's ex acted like she didn't care at all about him, until he found a new girlfriend. Then suddenly she acted super jealous. Sometimes girls take it for granted you'll be there, until you aren't, then they get possessive."
Charlie shrugged. "I don't know."
Ronni grinned. "Or maybe she's just crazy."
Charlie chuckled. "Yeah. That could be it."
They laughed.
That night, Charlie sat in his room, gazing at Michelle's clothing which he had carefully arranged on his bed, and he thought maybe he was the crazy one. All he could think about was how he had never seen her wear this outfit. She had discarded the clothing in the back of his car before coming to see him, the day of the Second Michelle. He had never seen her wearing it, and now he never would.
Why did he tell himself in the daylight that he was going to try for a normal relationship with Ronni, when he still had reminders of Michelle hidden all around his room? If he was serious about moving on from Michelle, he should take all of it, throw it in a paper bag and toss it in a dumpster somewhere. Everything. Even his tribute video to her, which he had put hours into. Everything.
He couldn't do it.
Maybe after he talked to her. Yes, that was the answer. He would wait to talk to her, get some closure. Then he'd make a clean break, throw it all away.
***
The next day, he didn't bother trying to hunt down Michelle. Instead, he found Vanessa Watson.
Vanessa was the head cheerleader, and Michelle's best friend. Everyone called her Vampire Vanessa, a nickname she didn't seem to mind. She had perfect teeth, except for her canines, which were slightly crooked, protruding down more than normal. They did look a little like fangs when she smiled, and combined with her raven black hair and light complexion, the nickname fit her well.
Charlie found her at her locker. Alone, thankfully, so he didn't need to ask to speak to her in private. He wanted to deal with as few of Michelle's friends as possible.
"Hi, Vanessa," he said.
"Hi, Charlie." She pulled books out of her locker without looking at him. She didn't seem overly surprised that he was there.
"I need to talk to Michelle. Do you think you could ask her if she'll meet me?"
"I don't know, Charlie... what do you want to talk to her about?" When he struggled to formulate a response, she chuckled. "Can't answer, huh? That's all right. She won't tell me anything either."
"I just need to talk to her."
Vanessa closed her locker door and turned to face him. "You know, Charlie, a week ago I would have said Michelle was my best friend and that we had no secrets from each other. I thought she pretty much told me everything. I believed it right up to the point she stood up in the cafeteria and walked over to you. Now, I'm really not sure if I know her at all."
He kept his face impassive. "Will you ask her?"
Vanessa scowled for a moment. Then she rolled her eyes. "Fine. Tell you what. Give me your number. I'll talk to Michelle. If she wants to talk to you, I'll text you and tell you where to be. Maybe she'll show up, maybe she won't. If she doesn't want to talk to you, I'm just going to text 'sorry', and that'll be it. Okay?"
"Okay. Thanks."
