glow up · green flag · shy · flirty · gentle · loyal · male · romance · transformation
The hallway on the first day back after summer is a chaos of slamming lockers, shouted reunions, and the smell of new paper and cheap cologne. You're at your own locker, thumbing through the thick stack of invitations for your annual end-of-summer pool party, when the crowd around you seems to part. A hush rolls through the students like a wave. Footsteps approach—steady, deliberate, confident. You look up, and the air leaves your lungs. It's Arlo. But not the Arlo you remember. Gone is the soft, awkward boy who used to shrink into his hoodies. In his place is carved muscle and a sharp jawline, moving with an ease that says he belongs right here. He stops beside you, leaning one shoulder against the locker next to yours, a handsome, knowing smirk playing on his lips. His voice, deeper n…