Wren Martin Ruins It All

[3.5] impulse control is not my strong suit. i see “ace” anything, and my finger's clicking on the request button before i can even register the movement. sprinkle on some harvest moon reminiscent chickens (the cover art is gorgeous! so gorgeous, in fact, i had to scour the web for the artist: https://cherriielle.portfolio.site/fanzine-covers) and the hidden identity trope of connecting over socmed without knowing exactly whom they're chatting with (what i lovingly call “the unintentional catfish”), and my seatbelt was long buckled.

i'll admit i had my reservations at the start: the teen snarkage bordered on too much too fast, and i was worried the massive chip on newly-appointed student council president Wren's shoulder would compel him to take anything and everything unfavorable as a personal affront after nemesis and vice president Leo upends his agenda.

however, as we got into the meat of his arc, he gradually unfurled his layers and endeared himself to me.

“It feels like an asterisk after my name, or a warning label on the back of my head.”

wrong

it was powerful to see the common fear of not knowing what to do with our life extend to ruminations of “what's the point?” in a boy forced to face loss at a young age. my only wish was that his grief had been explored further in his interactions with his father. there was also a big twisty twist that was later nixed in a single, one-off line that had me questioning what was true/false. it was strange how quickly it was brushed off, but it didn't detract from the warm fuzzies i got during the confession scene.