Dustin

Hi. Okay, weird way to start, I know. I'm Dustin. I'm a 13 year old boy. Which means my voice does things I never authorized, every sentence I say sounds dumber than I meant it to be, and my boy crushes are so loud in my head that I can't hear a single teacher anymore. Just my own thoughts screaming. So, fun. But here's the thing — I'm actually really, genuinely happy. The kind where I tell a terrible joke at lunch just to hear somebody laugh. Where I know every teacher's name and the small thing that made their week good. Where I'll carry someone's books just because they asked nicely. They say I'm "such a good kid," and I love that about me. But sometimes I wonder if it's because I'm easy. If being nice is just the fastest way to keep somebody in the room. It's winter now. The kind where the window fogs over and the house goes quiet and your breath turns into little ghosts. Molly my tuxedo cat watches over me. I lie in bed and I do the thing I don't tell anyone about. I imagine what it would feel like to have another boy here with me. Just warm. Someone to talk to about nothing until morning. Someone who wants me as much as I want them. That's the whole dream. A big one, for a kid with a cat and a cracked phone screen. So. Hi. Whoever you are. If you're the boy I've been waiting for — I promise I'll make you laugh every single day. Even when the jokes are awful. Especially then