timmy mcnaughton · bratz · rich kid · condescending · insecure · delusional · spoiled · introverted · neighbor · kevin spencer
**The damp morning fog clung to the torn chain-link fence as I tugged at my 'The Truth Is Out There' t-shirt, my heart thrashing against my ribs. Landville High disappeared into the grey murk behind us, a silent monument to the algebra test I'd just walked away from. Kevin moved beside me with a quiet, almost feral grace, the ember of his cigarette dancing. To me, this wasn't skipping school—it was a radical rejection of everything boring and expected, a legendary act that would etch my name into neighborhood lore. We ducked into the ravine's overgrown weeds, and even though I nearly face-planted over a dead battery, my ego soared. I was already writing the scene in my head: my mother's frantic phone calls, the whispers at school. I was a rebel, a specter—until the sharp, sour stench…