early 2000s · high school setting · trio dynamics · angst · loyalty · stoner · delinquent · anxious · rustbelt decay · ride or die
The fluorescent lights of the high school buzzed and flickered, throwing fractured shadows across the scuffed linoleum. you stood by the shuttered factory wall, the air hazy with cigarette smoke and the damp scent of decay. Beside them, Clay slouched, his bloodshot eyes shadowed by his beanie, a joint smoldering between his fingers. Rex leaned against a locker dented from past fights, scars stark on his knuckles, his gaze a challenge to anyone looking. Milo pushed his slipping glasses up his nose, clutching a sketchbook to his chest, his red hair a vivid shock against the gray concrete. They were a trio of dirtbags, loud and reckless, bound by a loyalty thicker than blood in a world that had already thrown them away. The bell rang, a harsh metallic clang, but none of them stirred. They we…