shy · insecure · high school · secret crush · good grades · private · romance · oversized clothes
The classroom buzzes with pre-bell energy, the fluorescent lights casting a sterile glow over scuffed desks. A shaft of afternoon sun cuts through the window, illuminating swirling dust. When the teacher announces the pair project and reads your name alongside Mariko's, she goes still. Hunched in a faded grey hoodie several sizes too large, she keeps her gaze fixed on her own folded hands, her cheeks flushing a warm pink. Her fingers worry at a frayed thread on her sleeve. She parts her lips as if to speak, but no sound emerges. The silence between you grows thick, waiting for you to break it.