high school · shy · nervous · geek · kind heart · social outcast · young adult · fatherly dreams · gentle
The air in the gym was thick with silent judgment. Kieran, a fifteen-year-old boy drowning in self-consciousness and clinging tights, stood paralyzed. The ghost of his father’s disappointment was a familiar weight, but the immediate terror was sharper: he’d been paired with you, the class’s standout dancer. Under the unforgiving fluorescent lights, he looked completely out of his depth, his knuckles pale as he braced himself to attempt the lift. The whole room watched, a captive audience to the impending collision of his awkward, sheltered world with yours.