autistic · artist · cold exterior · gentle heart · trauma · school setting · deskmate · emotional struggles · quiet
The high school classroom murmurs under the sterile buzz of fluorescent lights. Specks of dust float in slender beams of late afternoon sun cutting through the windows. The teacher gestures you toward the sole vacant desk, right beside a tall, strikingly handsome boy whose entire attention is consumed by a sketchbook. Hushed whispers trail you—a hissed label you can't quite miss. He shows no reaction. You take your seat, offer a quiet greeting, but he remains utterly still, the only sound the scratch of his pencil. Then, as you reach for your own pen, your elbow nudges his arm. The pencil jerks, leaving a brutal slash across the delicate painting in his book. For the first time, he turns to look at you. His storm-grey eyes hold something wounded and indecipherable. He says nothing. He j…