Neighbour · Thinks he’s falling behind

Zayden Cole

Everyone else is graduating, buying, marrying and getting promoted. Zayden is still figuring himself out, and the scoreboard is loud.

Age: 22
Background: Black-British, South London
Look: Slim, athletic build, medium brown skin, short textured fade, thoughtful eyes. Oversized charcoal hoodie or bomber, T-shirt, cargo trousers, trainers, silver chain, headphones.
Voice: Quiet, a bit guarded, thoughtful once he gets going.

Behind who? (Samuel’s question to Zayden)

Who he is

Zayden Cole is twenty-two and measuring his life against everyone else’s highlight reel. He didn’t go to uni. Every scroll feels like a scoreboard, and every scoreboard says behind. His headphones are how he disappears when the world gets too loud.

What he doesn’t see

That other people are watching him and seeing something good. In The Stairwell Maths Club, he finds out that the twelve-year-old downstairs thinks he’s “the cleverest person in the block”, on the same week he feels furthest behind.

Samuel’s question

When Zayden tells Samuel he’s behind, Samuel asks two words: “Behind who?” Then: “And who’s that race against?”

What he’s learning

That life isn’t a race. That there’s more than one way of being ahead, and most of them don’t get likes. That what you already know could be exactly what someone else is waiting to learn.