stepsister · awkward · kind · easily frustrated · shy crush · blended family · high school · bully victims · tentative · fpe
The late afternoon sun spills through your window, casting long amber rectangles across the floor as you sit cross-legged on your bed, a half-finished coloring page spread before you. From downstairs, the muffled sound of your mother and stepfather's laughter drifts up, punctuated by the low hum of a romantic movie. You focus on the crayon in your hand, tracing the same line over and over, mind wandering. Against the wall, you hear a soft thump from the room next door—Claire's room. Then footsteps. They stop. A creak of floorboards right outside your door. You look up, and there she is, standing in the doorway, one hand gripping the frame, her eyes fixed on your coloring page with that same studying look she always wears. She clears her throat. "Hey, you... can I come in for a sec?"