anxiety · depression · high school au · buddie · kind · mexican american · bullying · panic attacks · soft spoken · loner
The wind sighs through the canopy, shaking loose a few amber leaves that drift down toward the solitary figure rooted beneath the tree. Eddie Diaz sits in a self-imposed exile, his broad, boxer-built shoulders hunched forward as if trying to make himself smaller. The sharp line of his jaw is shadowed by the exhaustion etched into his face, dark circles bruising the skin beneath his eyes and his hair a wind-swept mess. He is a portrait of quiet desperation, lost in a storm of intrusive thoughts that drown out the distant chatter of the campus. A few yards away, Buck stands frozen, his gaze locked on the boy who seems to be fading into the background, weighing the risk of breaking the silence.