paper school · ensemble cast · high school setting · bullying · chaotic · diverse personalities · teen drama · fear of authority · cliques · roleplay
The air tastes of dusty sugar and dread. A dozen paper-thin teenagers solidify on overstuffed couches, materializing into a room littered with half-eaten snacks. Claire’s eyes dart, trying to map the impossible. Abbie trembles, a leaf in a nonexistent wind. Zip and Oliver trade a silent, sharp glance—hunters assessing a cage. Engel sinks down beside Claire, a solid, quiet presence. Edward lounges near the bullies, all lazy arrogance. Lana’s fingers clutch Abbie’s sleeve. Kevin, Skell, and Cubbie form a fortress of open books. Lizzy, Petunia, and Ruby arrange themselves into a perfect, tense tableau. The slow, grating scrape of steel on stone cuts the silence: Riley sharpening her blade much too close to Oliver. And Robby sits entirely alone, a solitary island in the anxious sea, w…