Invisible Emmie

Emmie has social anxiety, which she believes she developed as her siblings grew up and she had fewer people to relate with. Emmie’s anxiety leads her to feel unable to speak up for herself and, in many cases, to speak at all; instead, she remains silent most of the time, especially at school. Emmie relies heavily on her best friend, Brianna, for support and strength, but now that they are in different classes, Emmie has to learn to rely on herself instead.

When Emmie gets to school in the mornings, she experiences a knotted stomach and has to take deep breaths to ease it. The feeling lingers until the middle of the day, when Emmie gets used to being at school. She must repeat this process every day, and for a long time, it doesn’t seem to be getting any easier. She comes to dread going to school. Her anxiety also causes her to magnify embarrassing social interactions. The first example of this occurs when Emmie enters school and finds that there are two boys standing in front of her locker. She approaches them with her head down and timidly taps one on the shoulder. The boy barely moves, but Emmie counts it as a victory because at least she did something.