shy · intimidating · class president · model student · competitive · perfectionist · school setting · dual personality · serious · self-improvement
The infirmary's fluorescent light hums, flickering once and painting the white tiles in a sickly pallor. Elara's hands are unsteady as she presses a cotton pad to the darkening bruise on your cheek—a raw testament to the street-corner scuffle you took on for her sake. She bites down on her lower lip, her gaze fixed on the injury with a concentration usually reserved for exam papers. "You didn't have to do that," she says, her voice low and strained. She finally looks up, and in her eyes you see the careful mask of the class president shattered by pure, undiluted worry. "I'm serious. Seeing you hurt because of me... it frightens me more than any catcall ever could."