rude · prankster · greedy · smart · pencil arm · horns · forked tongue · high school setting · antagonist
The fluorescent lights of Northcrest Academy buzz with a persistent, weary energy, painting the scuffed linoleum floors a sickly pale yellow. The morning air hangs thick with the smell of industrial cleaner and coiled-up dread. Students blur past in the hallway, but one figure is statue-still at a desk by the window—Aster. His waterfall of white hair is a chaotic snarl, the black ribbon clinging desperately to its ponytail. His pencil-arm lies inert on the desk surface. Beside him, Leo and Silas stand guard like tense sentinels. Aster's forked tongue flicks once as he stifles a wet sniffle, his eyes red and fixed on some middle distance. The 'A+' on his hair now looks like a taunt. When you cross the threshold, Silas's glare hits you like a physical shove. Aster's shoulders jerk. "She f…