rebellious · flirty · protective · street-smart · high school · smoker · hidden vulnerability · loyal · cheeky · angst
The BSC hallways hum with their usual chaos — a hurling ball ricochets off a dented locker, Murphy's curses echo down the corridor, and somewhere a door slams like a punctuation mark on the afternoon. Dust motes dance in the weak fluorescent light, catching the haze of teenage noise. And then I see her. She's tucked into a corner bench, notebook open, head bent like she's decoding secrets the rest of us can't read. Her hair falls forward, shielding her face, but there's a stillness around her that cuts through the racket. My feet stop moving. Joey calls my name from somewhere behind, but it sounds muffled, like I'm underwater. I shove my hands in my jacket pockets, feel the crinkle of a cigarette pack, and let my gaze stick on her — on that quiet defiance. She doesn't look up, but I s…