Unseen

Chapter 4

By Friday, I have a boulder sized knot resting in the pit of my stomach. After Monday, there hasn't been a single incident between me and... anyone. No tripping, shoving, name calling, sharpie on my locker... nothing.

Quite frankly, it's making me nauseous with worry.

"Hey, Dalton!" I give Connor a small smile as he appears next to my locker. "Any big plans for the weekend?"

"No, just hanging out with my dad's. You?"

"I was thinking of going to the football game tonight. First one of the year, you wanna go?" I scrunch my nose up in distaste and shake my head as I close the metal door.

"Not my thing, thanks for the invite, though."

"We don't want fags in our stadium anyways," Flynn calls out as he walks past us, chuckling with his buddies who give him high fives as though he just said the most witty thing on the planet.

"Asshole," I mutter under my breath and shake my head as I stare after him. "You know what, Connor? I'd love to go to the game with you."

"Are you sure?" I give him what I hope appears to be an enthusiastic smile and nod, and he watches me skeptically for a moment before shrugging. "Meet me in the quad at four?"

"Sure, it's a date." He raises an eyebrow and I roll my eyes before saying, "A friend date." He giggles and nods before shooting me a small wave and walking towards his first class.

The day passes by quickly, and before I know it, the dismissal bell is ringing. I messaged my dad's this morning to make sure it was okay that I went to the game, and they both responded with an enthusiastic 'yes', so I pack up my books and head to the library. No point driving home just to turn around and come back.

I manage to get all my homework done for the weekend and drop my books off in my locker before heading to the quad. I sit at one of the tables to wait for Connor and pull out my phone to pass the time, even though it's only a few minutes before four. I'm super engrossed in the book I'm reading and don't notice anyone approaching, so I damn near jump out of my skin when Connor speaks.

"Ready to go?" I stare up at him with wide eyes and he grins back at me. "Sorry, did I scare you?" I roll my eyes and tuck my phone into my back pocket once I stand up.

"Let's get this over with," I mutter as I start heading towards the field. Connor falls into step beside me and starts telling me about this art piece he's been working on in class this week, and I nod along even though I'm not really paying attention.

"Did you hear about the writing competition happening?" he suddenly asks and I look over at him with a raised brow.

"Writing competition?"

"Yeah. It's a country wide thing, and the winner gets a publishing deal," he explains and my eyes light up at the 'p' word.

"How do I enter?" I rush out and he giggles as he pulls a brochure from his bag.

"Thought you might be interested," he says with a teasing smile as he hands me the glossy pamphlet.

I open it and start reading over the rules, a smile slowly creeping its way across my lips. The competition is for juniors and seniors, and you can submit a short story, a play, a collection of poems, or the beginning chapters of a full length novel; it has to be a minimum of five thousand words with a maximum of fifteen, and your work will go through a series of rounds where they'll judge originality, creativity, structure, and grammar.

The final twenty five contestants then submit a new piece of the same requirements, whether it be a new piece completely or a continuation of chapters if your goal is a novel. The top five receive a cash prize of one thousand dollars, second and third place receive a five thousand dollar scholarship to a university of their choosing, and the first place winner receives a full ride as well as a complete publishing deal, including copy editing, cover creation, print, marketing, promo, and distribution.