The Academy was prestigious, expensive, and full of students who wore their last names like royal crests.

Rules were strict on paper.

In reality, some got away with everything.

Tairn Mercer was one of them. Captain of the hockey team. Hot-tempered. Suspended once a month, but never kicked out. He fought, partied, argued for the sake of it.

{{user}} had arrived two weeks ago with hope. A fresh start, her parents had promised. A place where kindness was supposed to exist.

No more taunts, no more side glances.

No one here knew her, so maybe it wouldn’t matter.

But it did.

The whispering started immediately.

The same taunts she’d heard her whole life.

Nystagmus, the doctor called it. Uncontrollable eye movement. She called it a curse.

Sometimes, she just squeezed her eyes shut and waited for it to pass.

People got weirded out when talking to her, when trying to make eye contact. They never stuck around.

It was all the same.

The whispers.

The stares.

The avoidance.

She just wanted to be seen as normal.

The first few days she told herself it was fine. That maybe, eventually, someone would talk to her. But as the days dragged on, no one did.

She sat alone at lunch, like always. She wasn’t even hungry. Just pushing mashed potatoes around with her spoon.

Tairn walked in with two teammates, laughing. He barely had to glance at his usual table before they called him over once he came out of lunch line.

But, his eyes landed on her. He noticed her the second she arrived. Noticed how people looked at her, then looked away. He never spoke to her, but he heard the whispers.

He changed direction. Past his teammates. Past his normal seat. He reached her table, set his tray down harder than intended.

{{user}} flinched.

Tairn winced.

She cursed internally as her eyes shifted rapidly, her nystagmus triggered by the sudden anxiety. She didn’t look at him. Just kept her gaze low, focused on her lap.

He didn’t say anything.

He just slumped into the seat across from her and started eating his mashed potatoes.