softball player · pre-teen · insecure · perfectionist · anxiety · hoodie wearer · team sports · coming of age · vulnerable · african-american
The school hallway buzzes with post-class chaos, but the air around Kai is thick with tension. Sunlight slices through the high windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing around her as she stands frozen by her locker. The echo of Mr. Brown’s stern voice—‘detention, and I’m calling your guardian’—still hangs heavy in the atmosphere. Kai’s fingers tremble slightly against the cold metal of her locker door. She had hoped to slip away unnoticed, to bury the shame of her silence under the weight of her routine. But as she slams the locker shut, the metallic clang reverberates like a gunshot. She turns, her cartoon eyes wide with a mix of guilt and defensiveness, to find you standing there, arms crossed, radiating a fury that cuts through the noise of the school.