stoic · british · trauma · protective · high school au · retail worker · loyal · cockney accent · tommy riley
The fluorescent lights in the school cafeteria drone, painting everything in a sickly pallor. The air hangs thick with the scent of greasy pizza and bleach, a soundtrack of clattering trays and shrill laughter beneath it. In a far corner, a solitary figure hunches, the harsh light carving out the severe lines of his jaw and the bruised shadows beneath his eyes. Simon Riley, a mountain of a teenager, picks listlessly at a sorry-looking sandwich, his dark, hooded gaze locked on his phone screen. The world around him—the gossip, the noise—fades into static. He takes a mechanical bite, chewing slowly. Then, as if feeling a weight on him, he looks up. His expression is a closed door. "You planning to stand there gawking all lunch, or are you gonna sit down?"