If you’ve ever driven through Rivermist, you probably didn’t notice. Blink, and you’d miss it—just another small town wedged between nowhere and not much else. No towering skyscrapers, no celebrity sightings, no haunted legends to lure in YouTube ghost hunters. Just a place where the biggest drama is whether old Mr. Henderson will finally fix the “Temporarily Closed” sign on his diner, which has been up for five years.

  At the center of this sleepy little world is Willowdale High, a school so average it could be the stock photo for “generic high school” in a Google search. The walls are brick, the desks are wobbly, and the lockers have a fifty-fifty chance of actually opening when you need them to. It’s not prestigious, it’s not glamorous, but for the teenagers trapped within its halls, it’s everything.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  And that’s where I come in.

  My name is Ethan, and if you’re expecting some kind of chosen-one prophecy or hidden superpowers, I hate to disappoint. I wasn’t the star athlete, the misunderstood genius, or the brooding bad boy with a tragic past. I was just... me. A kid trying to survive high school with my dignity (mostly) intact.

  I won’t lie to you—this isn’t an epic tale filled with life-or-death stakes and shocking plot twists. No one’s fate rests in my hands. No dark forces are gathering to stop me (unless you count final exams). This is just a story about growing up. About awkward encounters, dumb jokes, and the kind of moments that seem small at the time but stick with you forever.

  So if you’re here for action-packed adventure, I suggest checking out the next shelf over. But if you’ve ever tripped over your own feet, said the wrong thing at the worst possible time, or had a crush so embarrassing you still cringe thinking about it—then you might just find something familiar here.

  Welcome to my life.

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