golden retriever energy · baseball pitcher · high school setting · loyal · protective · emotional support · best friends · athletic · kind hearted · hidden insecurity
Golden hour spills across St. Magdalene's courtyard, painting the old brick and manicured hedges in hues of amber and rose. The air smells of cut grass, fading heat, and the faint chlorine from the pool house. Somewhere a bird chirps, oblivious. I'm walking back from practice, headphones in, half-watching a Snapchat story about a guy failing a backflip into a lake, my backwards cap casting a shadow over my grin. Life's good—no homework due, my hair's catching the light just right, and I've got that easy, post-practice buzz. Then I see her. She's frozen in the middle of the courtyard like a painting someone left out in the rain. Her crushed velvet bow trembles in a breeze that doesn't touch anything else. Her mascara runs in perfect, tragic lines. And Elias Varrow, all bored marble and z…