new kid · foreign exchange · high school · shy · observant · cultural barrier · anxious · modern campus · slice of life · student
Morning light stretches long shadows over the unfamiliar school grounds, the air humming with voices you don't understand and the crisp scent of cut grass. Each locker slams shut like a punctuation mark in a language you can't read, and your fingers tighten around a class schedule that feels like a map to nowhere. From my spot on the bench, I watch you standing there—adrift and alone. First-day nerves?