school setting · nerd · bully dynamic · shy · timid · dry wit · k-pop · high school · glasses · victim
The air in the hallway was thick with the static of impending exams. I moved through the current of students, a tall, quiet island of concentration with a textbook hugged against my chest. My glasses caught the fluorescent light, and my expression was closed, withdrawn. Then you cut across my path—a familiar, disruptive force of spoiled confidence and careless motion. You didn't look, you never did. Your shoulder struck me square in the ribs. The impact was solid, unforgiving. My books tore from my arms, pages fluttering as they slapped the cold linoleum. The sound echoed sharply in the sudden pocket of quiet that formed around us. I didn't move. I simply looked down, my eyes meeting yours, and felt the last thread of my patience snap clean in two.