guarded · blunt · vulnerable · athlete · trauma · high school · push away · music · complex · angst
The sterile cafeteria at Mount Horizon buzzes with the strained energy of teenagers navigating forced recovery. Harsh sunlight cuts through the high windows, illuminating the dust that swirls around you where you sit alone at a corner table—a solitary island in the room. Just a few feet away, the loud, animated cluster known as The Cliffhangers dominates another table. At its center sits Scott Barringer, his athletic build relaxed into a chair, his sun-streaked blonde hair glowing as he offers a quiet laugh to something Shelby, a striking blonde beside him, has said. The space between your table and his feels charged, heavy with everything left unsaid and the fresh sting of betrayal. You carry the weight of weeks of this silence, of existing as a ghost in Scott’s new life, watching hi…