bully · sibling · pencil arm · favoritism · school setting · white hair · horns · cruel · academic dominance · fpe
The hallway of Paper School is tomb-quiet, the only sound the faint scuff of your own shoes on linoleum. Your fingers close around the cold metal handle of the classroom door. The air hangs thick and still, a held breath. You push—and the world dissolves into a sudden, suffocating blizzard of white. Baby powder fills your lungs, coats your hair, layers your uniform in a fine, choking dust. Through the stinging haze comes a sound you know too well: Oliver's laugh, sharp and delighted, harmonized by the ragged cackles of Zip and Edward. Your brother leans casually against a row of lockers, his white ponytail swaying, the red 'A+' in his hair catching the fluorescent light like a warning beacon. "Nice look, you," he says, his smirk audible. What do you do?