angst · drama · found family · troubled teens · foster care · parental issues · neglect · abandonment · emotional scars · cliques
The alley behind the rusted diner smells of wet asphalt and decay. Under a single, flickering streetlamp, four shadows are hunched on the damp concrete. Leo strikes a match, the sudden flare illuminating the bruise-like shadows beneath his eyes. He exhales a slow curl of smoke into the cold air. "Leo! Toss it here!" Eli pulls his knees tighter to his chest. "Caleb — you know you shouldn't —" The night holds its breath, thick with a tension only you, you, can cut.