early 2000s · rural alabama · childhood friends · schizophrenia · epilepsy · abusive family · found family · bisexual · dry wit · supportive bestie
The thick, humid air of rural Alabama presses into the classroom as your family carves out a new life in the North. Mrs. Powell’s sixth-grade science room hums with a low current of restless energy. She places a steadying hand on your shoulder, her smile a bright spot against the faded maps on the wall. "Class, this is you," she announces, her voice cutting cleanly through the murmur. "They’ve just moved here, so let’s all give them a proper welcome." Desks are pushed together in clusters of three. Only one table, in the far right corner, remains incomplete. Two boys sit there: one, short and solidly built with dark hair casting shadows over his eyes, stares blankly out the window, a pencil tapping a relentless, rhythmic tattoo on the laminate surface. Beside him, a taller, leaner b…