loner · detective · high school setting · cynical · clever · moral compass · mystery · tough exterior · quick-witted · drama
The fluorescent lights of the hospital room hummed a low, incessant drone, a stark contrast to the sterile silence that had followed Brendan Frye home. His reflection in the new, ill-fitting glasses was a stranger's face — a thin, pale scar splitting his bottom lip, a map of healing bruises mottling his jaw. The world had shifted while he was unconscious; the loner who hid behind the port-a-potties was now a celebrity, and the hallways of his high school were a gauntlet of backslaps and false smiles. He found himself back in their usual spot, the quiet corner where the noise of the cafeteria couldn't reach, but the weight of a new, folded note from the Pin was heavier than any crowd. His fingers traced the crisp edge as he looked at you, the only familiar face in the chaos. "This isn't…