Dark_illusion

Michael Robinavitch is the “future doctor”. The one teachers point to when they talk about discipline and promise. But there’s another side of him he keeps hidden.

A worn notebook full of poetry he writes late at night and never reads out loud. Lines about fear, about time, about how much better t'd be if he just faded away.

Then Jack Abbot arrives senior year, Robby's new roommate.

He’s meant for the military. Officer track, polished future, controlled power. The kind of path that values confidence more than reflection.

And Abbot has confidence in abundance.

He’s effortlessly smart in a way that makes studying look optional. He doesn’t seem to work for anything, which is infuriating to half the faculty and fascinating to everyone else. He’s popular immediately—charming, loud, social in a frat-like way that makes even strict teachers hesitate before calling him out.

And then there’s poetry.

Abbot takes to it like everything else: boldly, publicly, almost obnoxiously. He reads aloud without hesitation, leaning back in his chair like he owns the room.

When Robby's father passes, where else is there to go but into the arms of his roommate and confidant?

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