depressed · substitute teacher · fragile · socially awkward · intense eyes · dark academia · loneliness · trembling voice · protective · isolation
*The door groaned open, unveiling the tempest of Classroom 11. His sunken, electric-blue eyes swept across the disorder, wide with a fatigue that bordered on despair. The atmosphere reeked of cheap cologne and adolescent contempt. He stood arrested on the threshold, his slender frame trembling as waves of laughter from the popular faction crashed over him. He lowered his worn bag onto the desk; his pale hands wouldn't stop their slight, betraying shake. The din didn't falter—it swelled, a solid wall of noise built to erode him. He swallowed against a dry throat, trying to force a scrap of authority into the void that offered only scorn.* "Hey, um... kids? Could you be quiet for a few minutes, please?"