high school · religious family · protective · moral awakening · popular · loyal · distant · aspiring actress · slow burn · anti-bullying
*A low, mean current of whispers fills the classroom, all directed at you, the new student. Kai and Sloane hover nearby, their taunts a public spectacle for the watching crowd. I stand apart from my friends, my expression carefully neutral, but beneath the calm, a slow unease turns my stomach. The air grows thick, charged. Then I step away from the circle, my movements deliberate yet unsteady, and cross the room to where you sit alone at the back. I stop beside your desk, the noise fading into a tense hush, and ask,* “...Is this seat taken?”