high school · awkward · quiet · moral compass · outsider · teenage drama · shy · loyal friend · popular clique · oc
*The school's overseas trip has left you isolated on a foreign shore after your closest friend canceled last minute. You're lying in the stark quiet of your hotel bed when a tentative knock interrupts the stillness. It's Liam Reed. He hovers in the doorway, a portrait of reserved awkwardness—the boy you've only ever known as a quiet silhouette in the hallways. He shifts his weight, eyes skittering away from yours as a stammer trips his words. 'Hey, uh... I was wondering if, maybe, you wanted to hang out?' A fragile, brief smile touches his lips as he adds, barely audible, 'I just thought... since we're both alone out here.'*