The Invisible Neighborhood Page 2

  James is embarrassed and humiliated by Georgina once again. Enraged, James leaves the new girl speechless; she could not help to notice the huffiness on his face. James is being punished for declaring his feelings to the wrong person. He has been pining over Georgina since elementary school, and has never dared to tell her because he knows she does not have the same feelings. He is a geek who has no friends and he is sentimentally unavailable, he has no strength attach with no one. James only thinks about studies. One day, after being convinced by Jackson, he decides to drop off his heavy burden telling her how he felt, unfortunately he was spurned. Since that day, James had a gigantic hole in his heart because of her. Sofi glances longingly at Georgina and her upper lip curls in disgust. Then she hugs her books and moves along without saying a word.

  She enters the office, “Hello mother!” she says enthusiastically. The principal smiles, “Hi! Honey,” says Sabrina then she walks behind her desk to hug her daughter. Sofi takes a seat and starts explaining her little adventure with one of the students to her mother, from the beginning, until the point at which Georgina interrupted them. Sabrina forbids her from being Georgina’s friend because despite her the most popular girl in school she the perfect definition of selfish. She does not care about anyone; she does whatever she wants, even if it is something that can hurt her friends. The girl reminds her mother that she received a good education and she is not there to make friends. But she does not forget to ask her mother about James: who is he, and how long has he been at that school?

  The mother pretends not to be happy to see her daughter being interested in James, although she is relieved it is not one of those dimwits wandering in the corridor with their big muscles and tiny brains always carrying and football equipment; she has known the lonely boy for a year and she has never heard of him committing acts of vandalism as the others do. He is one of the good students and the perfect boy for her daughter.

  James explains to his parents that he met a girl at school. She is new, and she is nice, and all that he knows about her is that she lives with her mother. James’ parents suggest him to be careful of where he sets his foot if he wants her to be his friend or more, he must know her first. He does not have any other choice but to abide by the family rule which is not trusting anyone. He goes back to his room. James has the privilege of inheriting not only the characteristic of two geniuses but also the technology that helps him explore his potential. James learned programming at the age of ten, so hacking into a server of any kind is easy for him.

  While typing on the keyboard, his brain starts recollecting the data from the morning event at school with the mysterious girl. Soon, his brain is invaded by her angelic smile. He stops typing and start thinking about how to get back to a civilized conversation with her without any awkwardness. Then a desperate but brilliant idea pops out, but first he needs to do some research on her before letting her into his life which is an easy task for him, since he has a software program that allows him to recognize any person registered in any database of any institution. All he needs is to know her name and the name of her family, so he sleeps on it.

  After a long night stirred by a dream that will doubtlessly never happen with the girl, James wakes up happy, with a delightful smile on his face that his parents had never seen before. The worried parents want to talk to James before he makes any mistake, but he is in rush, not wanting to be late on his first day of class. They decide to drop him off at school, so that they can have the opportunity to talk to him on the way. “Do you need a ride?” the father asked.

  “Why?” he asked furrowing.

  “Do we need a reason for that?”

  “No, I guess, I’m just confused. What are you guys up to…?”

  “Nothing, it’s just that you can’t be late the first day of class; come.” Said Benyamin enthusiastically

  “OK!” After a while in the car, sitting in an awkward silence James breaks the silence “What did I do? Go on, I know this ride is not free, but you do, have to be brief though. I can’t afford having people see me with you. It’s the first day of class. If you know what I mean!”

  “No, we don’t little ungrateful selfish brat.” Said the dad. The parents look at each other and here it goes the lecture begins, but they hesitate a little; afraid to upset him as nowadays kids can be rebellious, and parents are not allowed to spank them from time to time. James glares at Benyamin with a challenging look, “I’m listening, because every time you come with me it’s to get some information from me as if you were agents of the KGB, or CIA so I’m listening.”

  “OK! We’ve seen you happy today and we wanted to know if it’s that girl.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Hum,” said Benyamin gruffly.

  “OK! Fine, maybe.” James snapped

  “What do you know about her?” Asked Samira

  “Nothing, yet,” he said nervously. “Then get to it.” said Mr. Barry

  “Yes, sir! Your wish is my command.” James nodded.

  “You know we love you, right?” The mother kisses him.

  “Yes, and I love you too.”

  “Cool! Now get out!” said Benyamin

  He pops out from the vehicle and Jackson calls out to him. When he arrives, Jackson asks if his parents are going to be dropping him off at school this year. “Nahhh, don’t be a moron.” He responded with uncertainty knowing that they might do it every day just to prevent him from making bad decisions.

  Chapter 2

  The Dream Girl

  As soon as he gets in class, his eyes start darting around looking for the mysterious girl, but he does not see her. A few minutes later, the girl in his dreams arrives into the room with a gait out-of-the-ordinary, looking at her steps, while walking with gorgeous big eyes. She sees James sitting alone, who has his mouth and eyes wide open, staring at her until she arrives near him. “Can I sit here?” she smiled.

  Lost in his imaginations James looks at behind him, then right and left he realizes that he is the one who she is talking to, “What?” he asks astonishingly.

  “Can I sit here?” she repeats, pointing her finger to the sit next to James. James still cannot believe that she is talking to him; he is speechless. She smiles again and sits anyway, “Hi!” she says, “It’s James, right?”

  James whispers, “Finally, someone who remembers my name for the first time.” She is not sure what she heard, so she asks what he has just whispered.

  “Yes, yeah, totally yes, it’s my name,” he answers, “And you what’s your name again?”

  “Seriously, again! I told you that I’m not telling you my name.”

  “I’ve always been a curious person by nature, unless you want me to call you the mysterious girl.”

  “You call me that, and I’ll kill you.”

  “Wow, slow down, you seem dangerous.”

  “You want me to show you my kill list?”

  “No thanks, I am good, your name will be enough.”

  “Good luck with that.”

  “About what?”

  “Knowing my name.”

  “You’re weird, you know that?” James says.

  “Yes, I hear that often.”

  James did not know that she had her reasons for not disclosing her name. This reason is that she does not want anyone to know that the headmistress is her mother, and at worst, to know whom her father is. She asks James about Georgina, what is deal between them. It is a sensible subject for James when it comes to Georgina, his pale face becomes red all of the sudden. He does not want to talk about it, but he also does not want to stop talking to her. “It’s a long story.” He confessed, but she lets him know that they have the time—the teacher is not there yet. James wants to make a deal with her. “Your name first. I know the name of everyone here,” he said.

  “Forget it,” she snapped, but her curiosity does not let her give up, so she points to a girl in the class and asks him her name. “Rebecca.” He said confidently
br />   “No, I meant her last name. You just said that you know the name of everyone.”

  He turns his head and whispers to Rebecca’s ear, “What’s your last name?”

  “Wow! I’ve been in the same class with you for three years and you don’t know my name? Go away.” Says Rebecca.

  Given to his cleverness, the lonely boy asked Rebecca to tell him otherwise he’ll tell her secret to everyone. Rebecca is so naïve: she does not know what James is talking about, but she does not want to take a risk, so she tells him her name. James does not know that the girl has heard everything. When he says the name, she smiles, “I heard you blackmail her. This explain your lack of friends.” She said disdainfully.

  “Please tell me your name. I’d really like to post a name on this beautiful smile.”

  The girl is motionless for a moment after realizing that he is really flirting. She locks eyes with him all of the sudden.

  “I see you coming and this has to stop now.” He smiles and she continues, “I’ll tell you my name if you stop doing this thing with your smile. I don’t like it, and I’m not interested.”

  “Don’t worry; I’m not going to try anything. Anyway, I don’t think I can survive another humiliation.”

  “Wow! Is it the fear of being rejected that keeps you from asking me out? That’s interesting! Wait it’s Georgi, isn’t it?” she said mockingly

  At the moment when he wants to answer, the teacher enters the class. Saved by the bell, he smiles. She insists as the teacher introduces himself, and the teacher interrupts them. “Hey, you two, am I interrupting something?”

  “No sir,” they both respond. The girl lowers her head.

  “James, you already started to seduce the new girl, right?”

  “Which one?”

  “Sofi.”

  James lowers his head and looks at Sofi, smiles, “I got your name without your help,” he mutters. The teacher asks James what he just whispered. “Nothing, just saying that if I didn’t have your class, I would have abandoned school.”

  “Yeah, funny, now hold your tongue and listen.”

  Sofi is impressed by how he handled the situation. She does not stop staring at him until the end of class, and James tells her to stop ogling him with her irresistible look because he is not interested. She smiles and lowers hear head.

  After the classes, James follows Sofi to talk to her and sees her enter the principal’s office. To his surprise he hears Sofi say, “Mom.” He looks through the windows and does not see anyone except the director. He listens to the conversation and he realizes that she is really the mother of Sofi. He waits for her to know that he saw her and heard everything, but it seems that she will stay there for a while.

  This is a good start on his research. He now knows the name of Sofi from the teacher and knows where to start this research from the last name of the director. He rushes into his room and begins to search. He sees nothing important. He uses the name of the mother of Sofi, who is Sabrina Smith, and he still finds nothing relevant. However, he is relieved of being able to tell his parents that the girl is clean, but he remains wary. James and Sofi continue to see each other at school for a week, she notices that her guess about James not having friends besides her and Jackson was right, but everyone knows him because of his skills in everything at school. When the two are together, they feel a connection. James has still not told Sofi that he knows that the headmistress is her mother, so she would not know that he had spied on her. That could ruin their friendship, which is fragile at the moment.

  One day after finishing class, James invites Sofi to have a drink and she agrees, giving him the time and the address where he can find her. He smiles, she looks at him blushing. “But just remember that it is not a date; it does not mean anything, OK?” she says to him.

  “OK, OK!!!” James replies smirking.

  “I’m serious” She added. James goes home happy. His mother is worried seeing James so happy, she has not seen him blooming like that for a long time or maybe never. She calls James’ father in order to not be the only witness; otherwise James will deny it, and Mr. Benyamin won’t believe it.

  The father sits down and asks, “What is this beautiful smile, man I didn’t know you can smile?”

  “Today I think I have a date with Sofi.”

  “You think?”

  “Yeah, she told me it does not mean anything, it’s just a drink.”

  Samira’s eyes go wide, “By drink you mean tea or something like ice-cream, right?”

  “Of course!” he responded firmly

  “OK! By the way, when are we going to see her?”

  “Why do you want to see her? She is just a friend.”

  “That’s why we want to see her. You never showed us a friend of yours except Jackson.”

  “Because I only have Jackson, duh; it sounds funny, but he’s invisible like me; we are good together. That’s what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? If we’re done, I’d like to borrow your Jeep for this historic evening of mine.”

  “Are you sure she’ll get into this pile of scrap metal, it’s an antique car man, she won’t.”

  “I have nothing else; she’ll have to deal with it.”

  “OK! It’s yours, just be careful.”

  “OK, thanks.”

  Excited, James arrives little bit early at Sofi’s. She hears a car stop and looks through the window. She gets out quickly. James cannot stop stealing illicit peeks inside the house, but she shields his view by standing in front of him. “Are you alone?” He finally asked.

  “Yep!”

  “Don’t you have anyone to introduce to me?” He simpered while shaking his head. “Nope! there is no one here that you need to know except me, now go open the door for me.”

  “Hum; OK.” Without seeing anybody, he says, “Who is this woman I see? We would say our headmistress at school.”

  “We should go and get you some glasses, what do you think about that?”

  “Why?” He asked confusedly

  “Because it looks like to me that you see things upside down.” Sofi sees the car and an awful image comes to her mind: a hearse, but she doesn’t say anything. James tries to open the door, another Calvary for him: the door is blocked. After several attempts, he remains unable to open the door. He does not dare look Sofi in the eyes. She is behind him, staring at him and embarrassed for him. Sofi jumps and lands in the car. “Oh…look at you.”

  “Do like me,” she says.

  He replies, “I don’t know how you did this. I don’t want to know, and even if I knew it I would not try to commit suicide—I’m too young to die.” Sofi smiles: she realizes how cute, funny and innocent he is. James manages to get into the car and they leave.

  They arrive at the restaurant, place their orders and begin sincerely to discuss their extra-curricular activities. Sofi does nothing special in her spare time; she surfs on the Internet like any other teenager, chats with her friends from her old school, obsessed with music and rarely goes out of her room.

  “I like having conversations with people that make me understand what the meaning of life is for them.” She added while glaring at James

  James is mesmerized by the depth of her emotions when she talks. Having nothing to do would be an understatement for James. He spends his days in his room, exploring new horizons in the world of computer programming, and sometimes he spends his time at the stadium with his best and only friend Jackson. Jackson has friends that James does not approve of, but at least they share the same love for soccer—well, he likes music too. “who’s Jackson.” She asked. “Jackson’s my best friend you’ll like him I promise.”

  Curious as always, James cannot retain himself from asking whom she lives in the big house with.

  Sofi’s heart starts pounding abnormally. “What?” She asked nervously. “You know at your house!” James retorted casually. All thoughts go through Sofi’s mind: why is he interested in knowing who I live with, but she ends up answering, proving him righ
t: it was the principal he claimed to have seen in the house. Without delay, James asks, as if surprised, “Why do you live with the director?”

  “It’s my mother, but I was not ready for the students to know that she’s my mother. I apologize to have told you that you see things upside down. Anyway, is that myopia, or hypermetropia I don’t know which one, do you know the difference?”

  “No, I don’t, and your secret is safe with me.”

  “What are you talking about?” she asks.

  James didn’t want to have any secrets from her because she wouldn’t trust him if she ended up knowing that he knew it before. So he decides to tell her the truth. After having confessed to her, she accepted and she became proud of him since he told her the truth without any obligation. She said, “So you knew it all along?”

  “Yes.”

  “OK, it’s not going to last, but thank you.” Sofi goes back on the subject of Georgina. It is a long and boring story that he doesn’t want to explain in the restaurant especially for the sake of his happiest moment. He begs her not to ruin it, but once at home, he will tell her all she wants to know. She nods.

  After a good time together, Sofi’s curiosity does not let her enjoy the moment she glances at her phone. “I think it’s my curfew.” She said casually.

  “Oh, already?”

  “Yep, sorry!”

  James gives her a ride home. When they arrive at Sofi’s, she insists that he comes inside the house: she wants to introduce him to her mother. James is not sure if he is ready for the principal to know that he started philandering her daughter. He will not be able to bear the principal’s disappointment if it comes to that. So he refuses, but for little he knows Sofi is a villain lurking behind an angel’s face using her charm to get what she wants. “You won’t make a beautiful girl like me beg you to come in my room, will you?”

  James smiles. He knows that it is the first time that a girl has offered him something that is in his interest and not merely in the girl’s; usually, when girls ask him something, it is about her homework.