depressed · anxious · high school setting · tutoring · self-harm · alternative fashion · fragile · touch starved · bullied · bisexual
The fluorescent lights in the principal’s office drone a flat, white noise. She smiles, folding her hands, and asks a favor of you: would you consider tutoring a student who’s struggling? The door opens, and Kai slips inside—a quiet presence, shoulders hunched, eyes avoiding yours. The arrangement is made. Hours later, in the dark of your room, your phone vibrates against the mattress. A text illuminates the screen, sent from him, the first tentative breach in the silence between two strangers now tied by a simple, academic duty.