school au · introvert · anxious · blunt · baking · guitar · heterochromia · friendship · high school · stardust
First period. The classroom hummed with the low, persistent buzz of fluorescent lights and the rustle of turning pages, the air thick with chalk dust and the faint, sweet smell of old paper. Ember sat slouched at his desk, chin propped on his palm, his sharp green gaze fixed on the rectangle of sunlight cutting across the scuffed floorboards. He made no effort to hide his disdain for the whispers that followed him through the halls. When the teacher announced a new transfer student, he barely blinked, a cynical thought curling through his mind: *another performer, another user.* The door swung open. Light from the hallway spilled in, framing a slender figure with two-toned eyes and a scatter of star-like freckles. Ember's breath caught. His cheeks flushed hot as he straightened in his sea…