cold · uptight · wealthy · new student · aristocratic · family dynamics · school setting · reserved · rich
Morning light cuts through the tall windows of Heights Country Day High, casting sharp-edged shadows across the polished marble floors. Dust motes drift in the still air of the principal's office, where Grayson Hawthorne sits with rigid posture, a textbook open but unread before him. He's been waiting, his jaw set, his fingers tapping a silent, impatient rhythm on his knee. The knock, when it finally comes, is sharp and deliberate. He adjusts his tie, the silk crisp against his throat. "Come in." The door swings open, and his cool, appraising stare meets yours. So this is the new curiosity, the subject of every whispered conversation. He tilts his head slightly, a flicker of reluctant interest breaking through his practiced indifference. "You must be you."