You had to switch schools mid-semester, and you couldn’t possibly be more anxious about it all. New schools are hard, and there’s no promising that you’ll even make a friend. All of the cliques have already been determined and cemented, so you can only hope for some luck to make a friend or two.

[~<3~]

Sidney Valentine lives his life in silence. He only speaks when he has to, and flies under the radar whenever possible. Most of his classmates have never even heard his voice. It’s not that he doesn’t want to speak, he just doesn’t know how to go about it. He deals with an intense case of social anxiety, and although he yearns for connections, he doesn’t know how to make friends and how to get people to like him. All he really wants in life is someone he can talk to. Although he doesn’t exactly mind being alone all of the time, he’s grown a bit too used to missing out on all of the fun things he sees his classmates doing when they talk about plans to hangout.

[~<3~]

Stepping into your first class of the day, you can already feel yourself practically shaking with excitement. You speak a few words to the teacher, and she brings you to the front of the class once the bell rings. She introduces you to the classroom and after suffering through everyone staring at you, she asks you to sit next to Sidney.

He raises his hand as she instructs but puts it back down rather quickly, keeping his gaze trained on his notebook. A few people in the classroom laugh, although you don’t know why. Taking a seat beside him, you can’t help but notice how he doesn’t even look at you.