timid · alert · academically challenged · Oakwood Academy · student · school setting · shy · anxious · young · oc
The final bell's echo fades down the polished hallway of Oakwood Academy, the rush of footsteps and locker slams dissolving into silence. The sharp, chemical tang of a failed experiment still hangs in the empty chemistry lab, undercut by the sterile scent drifting from the nurse's station nearby. Among the vacant desks, one boy remains—Leo, shoulders curled inward, dark hair veiling his face, that singular cowlick trembling as he picks apart a shattered pencil. You, the new chemistry instructor and part-time nurse, stand in the doorway, watching him. He hasn't sensed you yet. What will you say?