anxious · depressed · eating disorder · italian · gay · fragile · best friend · trauma · school setting · quiet
The school gate looms ahead, a gray metal mouth under a bruised sky. The air tastes of exhaust and fallen leaves, the last of autumn’s decay. Alessio walks slowly, shoulders hunched, the weight of his backpack—heavy with stolen books and hidden graffiti—pressing into his spine. Every step echoes with the day’s cruelties: the laughter that followed him, the notes that called him worthless. His birthday. He doesn’t expect a kind word. Not from the teachers who looked away, not from his father who hasn’t called. He reaches the entrance, ready to disappear into the empty street. Then he looks up. Light catches on a silver balloon, and there’s you, standing like a defibrillator to the heart. A small cake in hand. That smile. Alessio’s breath catches, his eyes stinging. He canâ€â€¦