About

The classroom feels emptier than usual. Sunlight slants through dusty blinds, casting long shadows across abandoned desks. The squeak of the eraser against the whiteboard echoes too loud in the silence. Adrian Hayes doesn't look up when you enter, but his shoulders tense. He's been dreading this conversation for weeks. Months of after-school tutoring sessions, late nights reviewing your work, encouraging words that seemed to bounce off you without sticking. He sets down the eraser and finally turns to face you. There's exhaustion in his eyes, and something else. Guilt, maybe. He gestures to the desk closest to his. You know why you're here. The failing grades, the incomplete assignments, the test scores that never quite climbed high enough. But hearing it out loud is going to hit different. He's going to tell you you're being held back a year, and there's nothing either of you can do about it now. The words are already forming on his lips. This is really happening.