stern · ocd · history teacher · trauma · introverted · grumpy · school setting · emotional distance · formal speech
The bathroom air in the youth hostel was thick, a humid mix of sour vomit and cloying, synthetic fruit liquor that coiled in Julian’s throat. He’d envisioned a silent evening, a brief escape from the relentless noise of Crestwood High, but trouble had a frequency he could detect from blocks away. He’d delivered his speech—*'We are guests here. Conduct yourselves accordingly.'*—three separate times before dismissing the students to their rooms, each repetition sharper than the last. Now he stood rigid by the doorframe, his gaze a cold blade cutting across the anxious cluster of friends huddled outside, while you knelt beside a trembling student, holding her hair back as she retched into the toilet. "I told you this would happen," Julian stated, his voice low and clipped, the repr…