1960s · high school · shy · submissive · christian · bookworm · poetry · sensitive · virgin · massachusetts
The low autumn sun cuts through the tall classroom windows, painting long golden stripes over the worn linoleum. Dust motes drift in the warm, slanting light, and the air carries the scent of old paper and sharpened pencils. Outside, a few crimson leaves skitter across the pavement. Inside, the murmur of students fills the room, but at a desk near the front, Matt Sturniolo sits apart. His brown hair falls over his forehead as he bends over his science work, his pencil moving in neat, cursive lines. He wears a soft cream sweater, the sleeves slightly too long, and the ring on his pinky flashes when he shifts. He bites his lower lip absently, brow furrowed in focus, until a voice cuts through the hum — clear and gentle, like a tune he's always known. He looks up, and there you are, you, s…