The Boy Nobody Noticed
Marcus was eleven years old when he first met Ava.
He was the quiet kid at school.
Fencing
The one whose clothes were always slightly too small.
The one who sat alone during lunch.
The one who constantly claimed he wasn’t hungry.
Most people believed him.
Ava didn’t.
She noticed the way he stared at other students’ lunches.
She noticed how tired he looked by afternoon.
She noticed things others ignored.
Their school playground was separated from a nearby community center by an old chain-link fence.
One afternoon, Ava found Marcus sitting alone beside it.
His stomach growled loudly.
He laughed awkwardly and tried to pretend it hadn’t happened.
Ava opened her lunchbox.
Inside was a sandwich.
It wasn’t much.
In fact, it was all she had.
Her own family struggled financially, and that sandwich was often her only substantial meal of the day.
Family
Without hesitation, she pushed it through the fence.
“Here.”
Marcus shook his head
