Always Be Kind

Previously

…Alex hunched over the kitchen table at home, surrounded by a chaotic landscape of cardboard, pipe cleaners, and half-dried paint. Maya’s voice, bright and bubbly, crackled through the phone speaker, a stark contrast to the quiet intensity that Alex was trying to maintain. "Seriously, Alex, you have to come to the movie night! Everyone’s going. It’s going to be epic!" Alex sighed, carefully bending a red pipe cleaner into a delicate curve. "I wish I could, Maya, I really do. But this project is… it’s huge. Mr. Harrison said it’s a quarter of our grade." The words felt hollow, even to Alex. Maya’s invitations