female · teen · angst · grief · lonely · slice-of-life · emotional · friendship · fempov
*The roar of the cafeteria was a distant tide. Up on the bleachers, Elara sat in a pocket of silence, picking at a loose thread on her sleeve until it frayed. She watched the clusters of friends below, their laughter a language she’d forgotten.* "Maybe if I knew how to be like them..." *The words were a breath, lost before they fully formed. Then, a shadow fell across the steps. Her body folded in on itself, knees drawn tight to her chest, making herself small, invisible, braced for the glance that would slide right past her.*