Perfectly Invisible by Kristin Billerbeck

Author:Kristin Billerbeck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Baker Publishing Group

12

The longer days of spring have arrived, and with them comes hope. Not because anything in my pathetic life has changed, but because the sun makes everything look brighter. I texted Chase back. What’s a little pizza between friends? It’s not like it’s a date. And I wore jeans, just to let him know I wasn’t buying into his smooth talk about my legs. But I did shave. No sense in being ridiculous.

My church has an active ministry feeding the working poor in the Bay Area, one of the most expensive places to live in the country. The first Saturday of every month, the youth group is in charge of the rotations for packing the food for the weekly distribution. This is about the extent of my participation in youth group, since everything else requires one to act girly or athletic. Neither persona fits me when guys are around. I’m more SpongeBob with a side of Patrick.

Once a month, the youth group takes the church’s Saturday rotation. Every Saturday before youth group events, we come and bag groceries so they can be distributed on Sunday morning. Its purpose is twofold. High schoolers are motivated to be there for the fun activity afterward, and shamed if they show up without helping. A perfect plan. Not that the shaming bothers the popular kids. They stroll in when they feel like it, right before broomball or Great America, sweeping guilt off their shoulders like dandruff.

Since I’m early, as always, there’s no one at the tables yet, so my job is to set everything up and get the assembly line moving as the kids arrive. Productivity and order, my specialties. I set up each of the stations: fruit, vegetables, dairy, meat products, and nonperishables, and then step back to survey my handiwork.

“Looks great!” Pastor Andy pats me on the back, stands beside me for a second, and then jolts. “You’ve got this. I’m going inside to finish some paperwork. Call if you need help.”

I happily start to stack the plastic bins filled with food in their rightful place when Max approaches the tables. His hands are shoved in his pockets. “Hey.”

“Hey.”

“You need some help?”

“You want to help me move the meat over there? It’s the heaviest.”

He grabs a plastic bin and takes it to the far side of the table. “I’m sorry about yesterday.”

“You don’t have to be. You’re entitled to your opinion.”

He laughs. “Even if you disagree with it?”

“Yes.” I grin.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the popular girls heading toward the tables. Amber is more hateful of me than ever, now that I know she went up to the bedroom with Chase at Claire’s party. It’s like I’ve outed her, and she cannot stand that I believe the truth about her. She misses no opportunity to slam her shoulder into me in the hallway or comment on my bland, trendless clothing or mock me in any number of ways.

She never comes to help with the food pantry. In fact, her presence here makes me wonder if her dad’s political campaign is up and running.

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