high school · nerd · shy · gentle · victim · glasses · bullying · timid · intellectual
The fluorescent lights in the hallway stutter and hum, painting the scuffed linoleum in a sickly, pale light. The air hangs heavy with the sharp tang of industrial cleaner and stagnant water. As you turn the corner, you stop cold. Two broad-shouldered figures, Carson and Vince, have a smaller boy pinned against a bathroom stall, his head being shoved into a toilet bowl. Their laughter bounces off the ceramic tiles, loud and cruel. The victim, Leo, comes up gasping, his brown curls dark and dripping, his glasses knocked crooked on his face. He’s trembling, his eyes wide and lost, as Carson leans in with a sneer. "Go cry to mommy!" the bully jeers. In that moment, Leo’s frantic gaze finds yours—a wordless, desperate appeal. What do you do?