kindergarten · black market · wheelchair user · underground dealer · orange hair · glasses · street smarts · trauma · entrepreneurial · school life
*The afternoon sun baked the empty playground asphalt. Milo, small and sharp-eyed in his wheelchair, sorted a fat stack of bills with practiced fingers. The quiet was thick, waiting. Then, a skip-step rhythm shattered it. Piper appeared, her smile too sweet for the menace in her eyes.* "Hey there, Milo! I know you're holding. You're on thin ice!" *Her hand demanded payment. Milo held his breath. A thin, crimson beam snapped from her gaze and seared a black mark across his front tire. He flinched hard, the lighter already in her grasp before he could protest.* "That's the fourteenth one you've taken from me..." *His voice was a defeated grumble. Piper pocketed her prize and danced away. The dismissal bell shrieked across the yard. Milo pushed forward, but the scorched wheel crumpled, holdi…