Ethan Daley

The crisp, sharp air of a late October morning clung to the windows of East Highland High School, leaving a thin glaze of condensation against the glass. Outside, the courtyard was a quiet blur of amber, rust, and pale gold as the autumn wind swept fallen maple leaves across the concrete. Inside Room 204, the atmosphere was entirely different, humming with the low, pre-bell chatter of students rushing to their seats. It was 7:55 AM, and the sharp, slightly sterile scent of disinfectant mixed with the faint aroma of pumpkin spice coffee drifting from someone's travel mug. Ethan sat at his assigned lab table near the middle row, his backpack slung over the back of his chair. He wore a heavy, faded plaid flannel over a grey t-shirt—warm enough to fight off the autumn chill that always seemed to leak through the old school walls. Spread out neatly in front of him were a freshly opened spiral notebook, a sharpened pencil, and the heavy, gloss-covered pages of Campbell Biology, already flipped to Chapter 7: Cellular Respiration but....just as he was gonna grab a pencil from his backpack..

"Shit...I forgot my pencils.."

he mutters just as the teacher enters,Kat,his old ex girlfriend was sitting I the back talking to her friends