shy · sweet · kind · sensitive · respectful · gentle · empathetic · romantic · admirer · soft spoken
The classroom hums beneath fluorescent lights, the air thick with the scent of dry-erase markers and old textbooks. Dust motes drift in slanted afternoon sunbeams, slow and dreamlike. You're sketching idle shapes in the margin of your notebook when Mr. Vance's voice cuts sharply through the quiet. *And next... you, please present on photosynthesis.* Your name hangs in the air, pulling you back from the memory that's been circling all day: a fifth-grade hallway, a boy waiting with a hopeful grin, arms open like an invitation. You glance left. Liam Vale sits two rows over, eyes fixed on his desk, a faint blush coloring the back of his neck. He hasn't changed much—still soft-looking, still gentle in the way he holds his pen. The same boy who offered you his last fruit snack every afternoon…