Between the stars

The hallway was crowded that afternoon. Lockers slammed. Laughter echoed everywhere.

Someone shoved me from behind.

“Watch it, Latte,” a girl sneered. “Oops… I forgot. No one watches you.”

The laughter around me felt sharp, like broken glass.

I lowered my head, ready to walk away like I always did.

Then a voice cut through the noise.

“Maybe you should try not being awful for five minutes.”

The hallway went silent.

I looked up.

That’s when I saw him.

Jack.

Messy dark hair fell over his forehead, and his green eyes looked calm but fearless.

My heart skipped.

For the first time in years, someone had stood up for me.

Of course, my sisters noticed him too.

Girls always noticed Jack.

But my sisters weren’t just girls.

They were Leslie and Princess.

They didn’t chase attention.

Attention chased them.

Soon they were laughing with him in the cafeteria and sitting beside him in class.

I told myself the truth I had always known.

Girls like me don’t get the boy.

But then something unexpected happened.

One afternoon after school, while I sat alone under the oak tree behind the building, someone sat beside me.

I looked up.

Green eyes.

Messy hair.

Jack.

“Your sisters seem exhausting,” he said casually.

I blinked. “You… know they’re my sisters?”

He laughed softly.

“Triplets,” he said. “Hard to miss.”

I waited for him to say something cruel.

Instead, he smiled.

“Latte,” he said. “That’s actually a cool name.”

My heart stumbled.

No one had ever said that before.

After that day, Jack and I became inseparable. We studied together, walked home together, and talked about everything and nothing.

For the first time in my life…

I wasn’t invisible anymore.

But happiness never lasts long in my family.

One day something terrible happened at school.

Something I didn’t do.

But somehow…

My sisters blamed me.

And when I stood in the living room trying to explain, my parents looked at me with disappointment in their eyes.

They had already decided.

I was guilty.

Because when you’re the invisible daughter…

No one ever believes your side of the story.