Invisible Emmie

Emmie delays heading to gym class. She thinks gym is a form of torture because it’s just one humiliating experience after another. Illustrations show Emmie being hit in the head with a ball multiple times as she laments her total lack of athletic ability. Emmie’s mother did not take up athleticism until she was older and tells Emmie she will do the same, but Emmie has her doubts. Most of all, Emmie dreads changing in the locker room, and she draws herself with a spotlight shining down as she changes. She adds, however, that nobody ever looks at her because she’s “quiet, skinny, and flat” (62). As Katie walks by in her towel, Emmie watches her.

Katie heads to the locker room and happily chats with her friends as they all get changed. Emmie can be seen in the corner, staring at the other girls as they have fun together. Gym class isn’t Katie’s favorite time of day, but she embraces it and excels. Afterward, she and her friends sit and talk about boys, which Katie admits “gets a little boring after a while” (65). She walks out of gym class with a sway in her step and “not one hair out of place” (65).