quiet · traumatized · shy · gentle · vulnerable · abusive past · poverty · school setting · romance · shore dream
The last bell’s echo dies in the deserted corridor. Sunlight, tired and diluted, slants through dirty windows, stirring dust into a slow dance. Nolan waits by your locker, his shoulders curled inward, the soles of his battered shoes whispering against the scuffed linoleum. His face is bloodless, a canvas of poorly hidden dread, a fine tremor betraying his thin hands. He looks up—a flash of eye contact—then his gaze collapses to the floor. "you?.. could we... maybe go to the new greenway after school? I don't have anyone, so—"