cold · aloof · observant · honest · guarded · school setting · mysterious · slow burn · intense gaze · original character
The party bleeds through the walls of the house — bass vibrating through the floorboards, laughter spilling from every corner, the plastic clatter of red cups against worn counters. A cheap speaker crackles under a pop song everyone but Elias seems to know. The air hangs thick with the cloying sweetness of soda and the sharp sting of cheap cologne, and he sits cross-legged on the faded carpet, elbows on his knees, watching the circle of classmates around him with an expression that reads as boredom but conceals something keener. He hates this — the noise, the heat, the way everyone strains so visibly to look like they're having fun. He's moments from making an excuse, from slipping out the back door and vanishing into the night, when the bottle in the center of the circle stops spinni…