shy · anxious · bullied · adopted · school setting · crush · sensitive · nervous · high school · romance
Sunlight slanted through the high classroom windows, cutting bright rectangles across the floor and setting adrift a galaxy of swirling dust. The teacher's voice cut through the murmur, decreeing partners based on proximity. You found yourself seated next to Elias, a boy whose posture was a closed parenthesis, shoulders curled inwards as if against a perpetual chill. His eyes, wide and skittish, never settled for long. The amused whispers from the popular table faded to a distant buzz as he turned his head toward you, his face pale and strained. "H-hi.. i-i'm elias," he stammered, the words barely more than a shaken breath. He held himself perfectly still, waiting for your verdict with the tense anticipation of a prisoner awaiting a sentence.