My name’s Thompson Adebowale Ireoluwa. But no one at Paramount High calls me that. Actually, no one really calls me anything. If I’m lucky, I’m invisible. On a bad day? Well, that’s when the fun begins for some people. I’ve been here since ninth grade, and in all that time, I’ve pretty much perfected the art of not being noticed. I know how to walk down the halls without drawing attention, how to sit in the back of the classroom without getting called on, how to disappear into the crowd. At least, most of the time.
I’m a senior now. You’d think by your last year of high school, people would chill out a little, maybe get over themselves. But, nope. Paramount High is like a zoo, and every day, I’m the gazelle in the lion’s den. Except instead of lions, we’ve got people like Jason Riley, the king of the jerks, who’s probably been held back a year because he’s too busy terrorizing people to pass his classes.
"Hey, Tom-Tom," Jason sneers as I’m walking to history. He’s got that stupid smirk on his face, the one that makes me want to punch him—except, you know, I’d never actually do that. I stop, hoping he’ll just say whatever dumb thing he’s got lined up and let me go.
Jason leans in, way too close. “You forgot something.”
I glance down. My stuff’s all in my bag, I’m not missing anything. “What?”
Jason’s grin gets wider, and before I can even react, he grabs my backpack and flips it upside down. Books, notebooks, my lunch—it all hits the ground.
"Oops," he says, snickering.
His friends laugh like this is the funniest thing in the world. I don’t say anything. I just kneel down, grabbing my stuff as fast as I can. My hands shake a little, but I keep my head down. If I ignore him, he’ll get bored. That’s how it usually works.
“Maybe next time, try not to be such a nerd, yeah?” Jason kicks one of my notebooks, sending it skidding down the hall.
I nod like an idiot, trying not to make eye contact. Finally, Jason and his crew walk away, high-fiving each other like they just won a game. And me? I’m left scrambling to pick up the pieces, again.
See, this is how my days usually go. Jason finds some new way to remind me I’m at the bottom of the food chain, and I do my best to survive it. It’s been like this for a while now—ever since I made the mistake of beating him in an algebra test back in tenth grade. One dumb math test, and I became Public Enemy Number One in his book.
The only good part of my day is the time I spend in the library. That’s my safe zone. No Jason, no idiots, just me and a stack of books. I’m kind of a nerd, I guess. I like reading, solving problems, the quiet. And, honestly, the library’s the one place where I feel like I’m not completely invisible—but in a good way. There, I’m just Tom. No one’s trying to mess with me.
But outside of that, yeah, I’m pretty much nobody. People either ignore me or pretend I don’t exist. The teachers? They like me because I get good grades, but they don’t really see me either. And my friends? Well, I’ve got one or two acquaintances, but no one I could really call a friend. Not since Manny moved to Florida last year, anyway.
Home’s not much better. Things there are...weird. I don’t know exactly what’s going on, but I can feel it in the air, like something’s off. Mom and Dad have been super tense lately, whispering in Yoruba when they think I’m not listening. Anytime I ask them what’s up, they just brush me off.
“Tom, focus on your studies,” Dad says, like that’s supposed to make me forget that they’re keeping something from me. They’ve been like this for months now, and it’s making me anxious. I’m not dumb. I can tell when something’s wrong. But I guess I’m supposed to just pretend everything’s fine.
There’s this heaviness at home that I can’t explain. It’s like, even when we’re all sitting together at dinner, we’re not really there. Mom barely talks anymore unless it’s about school or reminding me to do my chores. Dad’s always checking his phone, even when he’s supposed to be watching TV with us. And don’t even get me started on my little sister, Kemi. She’s in her own world, and I kind of envy her for it.
I’ve tried piecing things together. Maybe it has something to do with Nigeria? We moved here when I was like five, so I don’t remember much, but they always talk about it like it’s this shadow looming over us. I don’t know if it’s money issues or family drama, but whatever it is, it’s making things super awkward.
But here’s the thing: I can’t even deal with all the weird family stuff because school’s a full-time disaster. Between Jason’s antics and the constant feeling that I’m invisible, my life is just one big balancing act. The only thing I can control is my grades. So that’s what I do—I work hard, study, and keep my head down.
Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to be one of those kids who’s got everything figured out. You know, the ones who breeze through high school, get invited to all the parties, have a million followers on Instagram, and somehow never get shoved into lockers. But that’s not me. I’m just Thompson Adebowale Ireoluwa—Tom, the quiet guy who gets bullied by Jason Riley, ignored by most people, and is pretty much invisible to the rest of the world.
And I guess I’ve accepted that, in a way. It’s not like I have a choice. I mean, what’s the alternative? Fight back? Cause a scene? I’m not stupid. I’ve seen what happens when people try to stand up to guys like Jason. It never ends well. So, I do the only thing I can: I keep my head down and wait for graduation.
Maybe things will change after that. Maybe when I leave this place, I’ll finally get to be...I don’t know, somebody.
But until then, I’ve got about eight more months of this. Eight more months of dodging Jason and his goons, of eating lunch alone, of keeping secrets from my parents, and pretending like everything’s fine.
At least I have the library. And books. Books never let you down. You open them, and they just take you away. I guess that’s what I like most about them. They make you feel like there’s a world out there where people like me actually matter.
Because here? At Paramount High? It sure doesn’t feel that way.
