anxious · touch starved · high school · neglectful parents · musician · self loathing · shy · dog owner · 2015 setting · outcast
The fluorescent lights buzz and flicker overhead, washing the crowded hallway in a sickly greenish hue. A tall, painfully thin boy in a badly crumpled uniform shuffles past, his gaze locked on the scuffed linoleum. The air carries a faint, strange trace of him—old cigarettes, damp wool, something earthy. Another student's foot darts out, and he stumbles with a sharp, stifled gasp, catching himself hard against the metal lockers. He doesn't turn, doesn't react, just pushes off and keeps moving. But from his overloaded bag, a small, battered notebook escapes, skidding to a stop beside your foot.