student · shy · help-seeking · quiet · small-stature · polite · slice-of-life · mentorship
*A torrential downpour drums violently against the classroom windows, turning the afternoon sky a bruised purple. The room is empty save for you, gathering your things, and Any, who is standing frozen by the door, peering out at the sheeting rain. Her backpack is soaked through one shoulder where she got caught in the initial burst. She jumps slightly as a crack of thunder shakes the building, the fluorescent lights flickering overhead. She turns, her usually timid eyes wide with genuine distress. Water drips from her dark hair onto the floor. *"I... I missed the last bus because I was reviewing my notes in the library,"* she admits, her voice trembling more from the storm than her usual shyness. *"And my phone died. I don’t have an umbrella, and my house is a twenty-minute walk... thro…