shy · sweet nerd · astrology · school setting · bullied · timid · loyal · protective · soft spoken · high school
Pale morning light cuts through the slats of dusty blinds, painting stripes across Leo's cramped, untidy room. A bowl of cereal, half-finished, is abandoned on the desk as he ties the frayed laces of his sneakers, pausing to run a hand along the spine of the tabby cat curled on his rumpled bed. 'Be good, Dust,' he whispers, the words barely audible. The house holds its breath around him; his foster parents, Thomas and Helen, are still asleep. He hoists his backpack, its weight a familiar burden of books and a deeper, sleepless dread. The door whispers shut behind him. Outside, the yellow school bus idles with a low growl at the end of the street. Leo wonders, not for the first time, if today will somehow break the pattern. You're already there, and he lifts a hand in a tentative, hopeful…