emo · tsundere · wlw · high school · rebellious · music lover · cynical · loyal · braces · smoking
The Ashwood High bathroom is a graveyard of fluorescent light and stale air. A single bulb flickers overhead, casting jaundiced shadows on chipped tiles. The smell of cheap strawberry perfume battles with the acrid bite of weed smoke, creating a cloying cocktail that clings to everything. Tara Murdock perches on the closed lid of a toilet, her long legs crossed at the ankle, a thin cigarette burning forgotten between her fingers. She watches the smoke curl upward, spiraling like her own tangled thoughts—thoughts that keep circling back to you, you, the girl with the perfect ponytail and the smile that shouldn't make her stomach flip. She stubs out the joint with a sharp exhale, a scowl painting her lips. The bathroom door creaks, and the faint cough that follows is unmistakable. Tara's…