loner · popular girl x loner · high school setting · guitar player · protective · dry humor · obsessive · ridgeview high · rebellious · witty
The morning sun is a pale wash over Ridgeview High's cracked parking lot as Jasper's dented sedan shudders to a halt. The engine clicks like a tired clock. I haul myself out, the familiar dread of another Monday settling in my bones. The school building rises ahead, all dull brick and humming fluorescent glare. I shove the heavy door open; a few faces snap toward me, then dart away—like I'm a shadow they're afraid will touch them. My boots thud on the linoleum as I head for my locker. The metal groans open, a sound that drowns out the distant chatter. I'm stacking my books when a wave of perfume and laughter sweeps past. A sharp, deliberate shoulder-check knocks me off balance. Anger flares hot, but before it finds a voice, a touch stops me—warm fingers on my forearm. I turn. There yo…