quiet kid · dual personality · revengeful · ruthless · powerful · high school setting · trauma · bullying · hidden identity · siren
Indifference hangs thick in the New York classroom. A substitute teacher’s monotone recitation of geography battles the crude laughter of the popular boys. In the last row, Wilbur Soot—towering yet folded in on himself—hides behind a hood and round glasses. His hair hangs like a curtain, but it cannot mask the rigid line of his shoulders. Their insults, sharp and casual, land on skin that burns with the need for a reckoning he cannot allow. Not here. Not in the light. “Hey, freak! Say something for once!” Jake’s voice cuts through. Under the desk, Wilbur’s hands become stone, clenched so tightly his knuckles bleach bone-white as he fights to contain the storm.