Matthew. No one ever spoke to him. No one ever cared. Your friends laughed and tried to trip him in the hall. But you never felt like he should be treated like that.  You knew what it was like to be bullied.

Way back in middle school, in the sixth grade, you'd been teased every day of your life. People made fun of the fact that you were in the gangly, awkward stage. That's why you transferred here for seventh grade. Over that one summer, you'd transformed into a beauty. Now in high school, here at River Valley High, you were one of the cool kids.

But, despite the fact that you were popular now, it didn't mean you forgot what it was like to be unnoticed. You still remembered. The scar on your arm from when you cut yourself to try to bleed until you just died, that made sure you didn't forget.

You'd been asked to prom by about twenty guys. You didn't really like any of them, though, so you'd turned them all down. Tomorrow was the big dance, and you didn't technically have a date. From the look in Alfred Jones's eyes, you were about to. You were good friends, and he'd had a crush on you for a long time, which was pretty obvious. Since he'd told you about fifteen times every day for the last two years.

"Yo, ____!" he called after you. "Yo, you wanna go to prom?"

"Fine," you told him. "But you have to buy your own ticket. I already lent cash to Vash and Roderich so they could go." That was forty dollars you didn't expect to see ever again.

"Yeah, I got that covered. Sweet! I'll see you tomorrow night." You smiled. Last bell had finally rung, and you were headed out. Your Harley awaited in the parking lot. You could see Alfred speeding off in his old Ford. Trying to follow him was his little brother, Matthew. Poor kid. You ran over to him.

"Hey, did he just take off without you?" He turned you way, surprised someone was talking to him.

"Y—Yeah. But I can just walk. The house isn't that far away." You knew where those two lived. You'd been to Alfred's house after school enough to know that it was about a half hour drive away, and you weren't about to let Matthew walk all the way there.

"No. Come one, Mattie, get on the bike. I'll give you a ride." You walked him to the Harley and got into a saddle bag, tossing him the extra helmet you always kept there.

"Let's go." He hopped on the bike after you. You sped away, and he held onto you with all his might. "You don't have to hold on so tight. You won't fall off," you joke.

"Alright." Matthew let his arms unwrap from around you, but he still kept a hand on your side. He obviously didn't borrow Alfred's Suzuki often. You sped to his house, and hopped off. Alfred wasn't there. He must have taken off with Gilbert and Mathias to go somewhere.

You walked Matthew up to his porch, where he dug into his backpack. He pulled out a maple leaf keychain. But the key was gone. He sighed. "Alfred. . ." he murmured. "You have to stop borrowing my key without telling me." He looked to you. "Thanks for the ride, ______."

"You're welcome. Can you get into your house?"

"No. But I'm sure Alfred will be here soon."

"If he took off with Mathias and Gil, he won't be. I was planning on going to the mall to get a dress, but we can just hang at my place," you offered.

"No, no, I don't want to impose on your plans," he said quietly.

"Okay, then. Looks like you're going to the mall with me. You're not waiting outh here all alone." You knew what it was like to be alone. And you weren't going to let Matthew stay out in the cold for hours. "Hop back on the bike." He looked shocked, but he listened and did as he was told. You drove off. The mall was about fifteen minutes away. You got off and he followed your lead into the stores.

"Are you going tomorrow?" you asked.

"Y-Yeah," he answered.

"Who's your date?"

"I—I don't have one. It's gonna be me and I'm gonna try to sneak Kuma in." You smiled at the thought of his pet at the prom. Kuma was the sweetest little polar bear ever. Matthew's family had agreed to get him the little baby when they found out it had some medical issue that prevented it from growing. That thing was so cute.

"I might have to steal him for a dance," you joked. He laughed as you walked into the dress shop. "Sorry for dragging you into a dress store."

"It's alright." The two of you scanned racks of dresses, until he pulled one off the rack. "How about this one?" It was red with white sparkles on the skirt. It was amazing.

"That looks awesome!" You took it and tried it on. It was a perfect fit. You walked out of the dressing room, the dress in your arms. "I have to get this one. Good eye, Mattie." He smiled and you paid for the dress. "Let's go get food." You went upstairs to the food court, and stuffed yourselves silly. It seemed that Matthew had the same appetite as his brother.

You pulled out your phone and texted Alfred. When he responded, you made an angered noise. "He won't be home for another two hours. Matthew, your brother is a douche bag."

"No, he isn't," Matthew said, quick to defend Alfred. "He just forgot about me, that's all." You frowned.

"No one should be forgotten. You sure you'll be good all alone for that long?"

"Yeah, and it'll take us a little while to get there, anyway, so it won't be very long." You smiled. Matthew was sweet, but he didn't see how big of an asshole his brother was being. Poor kid. The two of you rode to his house and you gave in a pretty big surprise: a hug. Matthew wasn't the kind of person who expected kindess. He was used to his brother's mistreatment, used to the bullies. It warmed his heart when you hugged him. You took off back home and fell asleep quickly. Tomorrow would be long. You needed rest.
***
You woke up to the ring of the doorbell. What time was it? You glanced at the clock. Eleven. Wow, you'd slept in. You turned to look out the window to see who it was. You nearly crapped yourself when you saw Feliks's face pressed against the glass.

"Come in!" you hollered loud enough for them to hear. Not a minute later, Elizaveta and Feliks were in your room with dresses and boxes you knew were full of hair and makeup stuff.

"Rise and shine, princess," Elizaveta joked. You yawned, as if showing further proof of your need to sleep in. Feliks began gossiping as soon as you were sitting upright. After three hours of those two attacking your face and theirs, you all looked great. Your hair was down, straight and beautiful, Elizaveta had her typical flowers, but with Taylor Swift ringlets rolling down her back. Feliks, well, he looked like Feliks, but with sparkles.

The three of you put on your dressed. You felt amazing in the red. Feliks looked gorgeous in his blue gown, and Elizaveta looked fantastic in her green. The three of you were ready to own the place.

"Like, Toris is gonna love this dress!"

"Gilbert'd better not laugh at me for looking so girly."

"You both look great." The two started working on your nails and soon you looked absolutely perfect. There was a knock at your door and you answered it. Alfred was there.

"Whoa." That was the first thing he said. "You look sick, dude! Come on, let's go!" You hurried out the door, waving to Feliks and Elizaveta. They would probably stay at your house until their dates got there. Not like it was the first time you'd trusted them with the house. Though there always seemed to be more glitter after they left than there was before they came. . .

Alfred smiled when you got in the car. "That skirt might not fit, ______."

You smiled. "I'll make it fit." You managed to get the poofy thing in, and took off. You arrived at the school and entered, paying for tickets. There was an upbeat song playing, and you began to dance. Soon, Alfred was off flirting with other girls, so you just stuck to the sidelines. Thirsty, you headed for the refreshments. There was Matthew, standing in the corner of the room. He looked amazing in his white tux with his red shirt.

"Wow," he said, seeing you. It was almost to quiet to hear, but you caught it. You blushed.

"Hey, Mattie," you said. He smiled and the two of you made the unspoken decision to walk around together. As you passed the punch bowl, you saw Mathias. He didn't see Matthew, though, and ran right into him, spilling red punch all over the white suit.

"Whoa! Sorry, 'bout that, um . . ."

"Matthew." Mathias just looked at him as though he'd never seen the little blonde a day in his life. The he moved on. Matthew sighed, removing his jacket. You wanted to slap Mathias so much. But, that wouldn't solve anything. All it would do is get you into trouble. Matthew sat his coat down on a chair near the outskirts of the room.

Why did no one ever notice him? It was starting to irritate you. You'd notice. You'd care.

"Hey, let's dance," you said. You walked him to the dance floor, where a slow song was playing. You put your hand on his shoulder and danced. Slowly you got closer until your head was lying on his chest. You looked up only when the song ended. The two of you walked away from the crowd and exited the room. You walked outside, in the gardens that surrounded the school. In a sudden act of whim, you took his and. It was silent, but that didn't last long.

"______," Matthew said.

"Yeah?"

"Why is that you care about me so much?" That wasn't something you'd expected him to say.

"Because I know what it's like to feel all alone. No one should feel that way. No one should feel so . . . so . . ."

"So invisible," he finished for you. You nodded.

"You're not invisible to me." There, under the stars, you kissed him. It wasn't rough, hot, passionate or whatever. It was just a sweet little peck on the lips. But there was still that spark.

Neither of you would ever be invisible again so long as you had each other.