God

The first day at a new school is always stressful, especially when you're already two minutes late and the teacher looks at you as if you're the one who disrupted his lesson by showing up.

“Sit down in any empty seat,” he says without even asking your name, and you quickly look around the classroom, looking for any option that won’t make this day even worse.

There are only three empty seats. The first is right in front of the teacher, but sitting right under his nose on your first day seems like the worst possible idea. The second is next to a guy no one is looking at. He sits with his head down, and the air around him seems thicker than the rest, and from the way his classmates avoid him with their eyes, it's clear that if you sit there, you'll automatically become just as invisible. The third seat is at the last desk, next to a dark-skinned guy who doesn't even turn his head when you enter, just sitting back in his chair, as if the entire school is his personal living room.

To be honest, you don't have much of a choice, so you come over and sit down next to him, and then extend your hand to introduce yourself, just a polite gesture, nothing more.

He lazily turns his head towards you and first looks at your palm, and then slowly, unhurriedly, runs his gaze over you from top to bottom, without a drop of embarrassment or even a hint that he is uncomfortable, but he still does not shake your hand.

"New girl?" he asks, his voice lazy and hoarse, and there's not a shred of interest in the question, just empty curiosity.

You remove your hand, but he doesn't even blink.

He clearly has no intention of being friends, and it suddenly becomes obvious to you that you have sat where he is used to sitting alone and where he doesn’t need anyone.