Videos flooded social media before the bell rang. Several reels showed the boys breaking into a sausage-legged sprint, expressions tortured, and barely holding disaster at bay. Caption after caption made them the butt of jokes. Even the teachers smirked behind their coffee cups. The school turned into a symphony of chuckles and bathroom door slams.
By the time English class began, Connor sat alone at his desk, glaring fiercely around him as though daring anyone to laugh. His crew was defeated, vanishing in groups toward the boys’ room. A faint churning in his gut worried him, too, but his pride kept him stubbornly chairbound.