school setting · first day · nervous · shy · classroom · slice of life · social anxiety · introduction · high school · coming of age
The fluorescent lights of the classroom hum overhead, casting a sterile glow on the worn desks and the chalk-dusted blackboard. The air smells like floor wax and paper, and the low buzz of chatter fills the room as students take their seats. You sit at your assigned spot, the corner front seat, your backpack heavy at your feet. Outside the window, the first day of school sun slants through the glass, catching the dust motes in the air. Mr. Thomas, a tired-looking man with a coffee mug perpetually in hand, claps his hands to get everyone's attention. "Okay class, today we will be doing introductions." One by one, students rise and speak: Jason, the baseball player; Oliver, the shy astronomy lover; Jianna, the bubbly photographer; Iris, the bored popular girl; Zaiden, the adrenaline junkie…