Invisible Emmie

Emmie and Brianna meet up in their secret spot in the hallway. Brianna seems upset and even a little angry as she asks Emmie what happened and how her poem got out to everyone in school. Brianna fears that her own love poem, which was with Emmie’s, is circulating as well. She says Emmie has to find the poem or she may never forgive her.

Katie walks down the hallway alone, wondering how she could have ended up in this situation. She sees Emmie sitting on the stairs crying and stops for a second, but then she walks on with an angry look on her face.

Emmie rushes to her locker and finds that Brianna’s poem is still safely tucked in her binder. She is relieved but also upset that Brianna threatened not to forgive her. She texts Brianna the good news and then turns her phone off, heading to math class, which she hates. In math, she listens as Tyler and his buddies joke about asking Emmie out and how she would have to draw him a picture in response due to her being “mute.” Emmie puts her head down in utter shame.

Katie walks into math class and sees Tyler and his friends making fun of Emmie. She writes a note to Tyler saying she doesn’t want to go out with him, and when he approaches her to ask why, Katie replies that she doesn’t like how he lets his friends treat others so poorly. Emmie criticizes Katie for “always trying to save [her]” (147). An illustration shows Katie looking confused.

Emmie goes to the bathroom and cries “knife tears” of anger and sadness. Emmie is angry at herself for dropping her poem. She heads to art class, her last class of the day, dreading the fact that Tyler will be there. As she walks past Tyler and his friends in the hallway, Joe calls her Hellen Keller, “it,” and “mute.” Emmie shocks herself and everyone around when she turns on Joe and yells at him to stop. Then, Tyler surprises himself and Emmie when he talks back to Joe too. He asks Emmie to walk to class together, and they show each other their art projects. Emmie is surprised to see what a talented artist Tyler is. She forgets about her embarrassment and the horrible day she has had but also forgets about Katie, who stands at the top of the stairs, watching Tyler and Emmie.

An illustration shows the students in art class. Emmie and Tyler talk happily together. Katie looks sad and talks to no one.

Art class ends, and Emmie feels like she has made a new friend in Tyler and even another girl in class, Sarah. She walks taller as she heads to her locker and sees the same boys who were standing in front of it that morning. This time, Emmie politely but confidently says, “Excuse me,” and the boys notice her as the “note girl.” Emmie blushes, but rather than cowering, she makes a joke out of it and tells the boys they can have one next if they enjoyed it so much. They walk away laughing, and Emmie smiles to herself, realizing she is fine. She grabs her bag to go home, and Katie runs behind her with something to say, but Emmie doesn’t notice because she sees Brianna. Brianna apologizes for being so angry, and they get on the bus together. Emmie shows Brianna a drawing she made of Katie.

Katie walks home by herself for the first time. It feels strange at first, but she realizes that all of the social pressure has been lifted off of her for once, and she walks home into the sunset, feeling free to be herself.

On the bus, Emmie shows Brianna the comic drawings of Katie—a character Emmie invented to do and say the things she felt too scared to do herself. Katie was also there to comfort Emmie when no one else was. For the first time, Emmie feels like she can be herself and let go of the character of Katie. She stares out the window at the outline of a person she is ready to move on from.

Emmie and Brianna hang out after school, and Brianna puts her love poem in a safe place. The final scene of the story shows Emmie in the car with her mother. Emmie’s mother asks Emmie about her day, and rather than give the usual short response, Emmie decides to open up to her mother a little. She decides to refrain from telling her about Katie but begins to tell her the story of how she made some new friends today.