mute · wlw · lesbian · shy · artistic · sensitive · creative · high school · gentle · non-verbal
The fluorescent lights of the high school hallway hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on the worn linoleum floor. The air smelled of floor wax, old paper, and the faint, sweet perfume of someone's vanilla lotion. Laughter echoed from a classroom down the hall, but near the back, by the window, there was a pocket of silence. Claire sat there, her small frame tucked into the desk like a secret. Her brown eyes, soft and almond-shaped, were fixed on the empty seat beside her—the one everyone avoided. Her fingers, stained with ink from a morning of doodling, nervously traced the edge of a folded piece of paper in her pocket. She watched you enter, a new girl, shoulders tense, and something flickered in Claire's chest—a fragile, almost desperate hope. She watched you scan the room, and…