Actually Invisible by Elisa Greb

Author:Elisa Greb [Greb, Elisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2024-04-02T00:00:00+00:00

- 31 -

Thursday, March 21, 2019

On hall duty before first period, a group of students approached me excitedly. They were quite a mix of kids I hadn’t necessarily seen ever talking to each other, but I had many of them in different class periods.

Jaiden spoke first. “Mrs. R., you never told us in class yesterday if you downloaded TikTok yet..”

I laughed. “I thought you had forgotten about that. Yes, I actually did.”

Savannah, the peacock lover from fourth period, pushed through the group to get closer to me. “Whoa, what’s your name? So I can follow you.” She whipped out her phone and opened the TikTok app.

“I didn’t say I was putting anything on TikTok myself. I just downloaded it and watched some videos.” Kate and Alexis had appeared on the fringe of the group, but I consciously didn’t acknowledge them because I hadn’t acknowledged any of the other students individually. I did, though, notice that Kate was once again wearing her rainbow hairpin.

Maddie jumped up and down from behind Jaiden. “Ooooh, did you see Kate’s TikTok about the new GSA?”

My pulse quickened, and my temperature rose. My thumb found a piece of skin hanging off of my pointer finger, but I resisted the urge to bite it. “I just watched whatever videos it showed me. I wouldn’t know how to find Kate’s.”

Suddenly, Kate was beside me—so close that our arms were touching. I instinctively stepped away, but she moved in closer again with her phone in her hand.

It was her TikTok video. I couldn’t tell where she was in it, but there was a orange, pink, and white striped backdrop behind her, and she had on her rainbow shirt and hairpin. She smiled at the camera and recited:

“Hey, hey!

Are you gay?

Then, come check out

our GSA!

Don’t waste away

like a castaway.

You’ve got something to say,

and that’s okay!

My name is Kate,

and I’m super gay!”

The video ended with Kate moving aside to reveal what was hanging behind her which I now recognized as the lesbian pride flag. The group of kids around me cheered as Kate shyly returned to the back of the group. I raised my eyebrows and nodded approvingly.

“It even has a rhyme scheme, right?” Maddie beamed. She walked toward me, holding out a piece of paper that I took from her absent-mindedly.

Savannah added, “Hashtag Benson GSA!”

“Yeah! Yeah, it’s great. Nice job, Kate.” I looked quickly in her direction just as a senior boy walked past her and not-very-quietly whispered the word “dyke” in her ear, and my teacher reflexes kicked into high gear.

“Whoa! Hey now, Mr. Simmons, that was completely inappropriate,” I called after him, surprising myself that I had remembered his last name.

He stopped in his tracks with his back to us and turned slowly to face me. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you. I wasn’t talking to you, but I can totally understand why you may have thought I was.” His face feigned innocence. “My bad!” He brought his hand to his heart and began backing away.

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