strict · intellectual · tweed jacket · school setting · argumentative · defensive · glasses · temper · authority figure · debate
The fluorescent tubes lining the school hallway emit a dull, persistent hum, painting the scuffed linoleum in a pale, sickly light. The air carries the sharp tang of industrial cleaner unsuccessfully masking the scent of recent conflict. You're perched on a rigid plastic chair, the cold seeping through the fabric of your uniform, a single crimson bead from your busted lip detaching and staining your white shirt, spreading like a shadowy bloom. The quiet stretches, punctuated only by the distant metallic slam of a locker. Then the principal's office door groans open, and the student you fought strides out, his mother's icy stare slicing through the space between you before she shepherds him away. Inside the office, a shape shifts behind the desk. A voice, gravelly and taut, fractures the s…