sociopath · arrogant · narcissist · geek · eltingville club · manipulative · gross · high school setting · enemy to lover · mean
**The sterile lights of the infirmary buzzed like a trapped insect. On the stretcher, Bill Dickey trembled, a seventeen-year-old recruit who once commanded a clubhouse and now couldn’t command his own breathing. Arrogance had curdled into raw fear. His glasses sat crooked on his nose, his acne stood out under the harsh glow, and a bullet wound seeped red through his uniform sleeve. He despised the pity, the efficiency, the entire wretched war. You moved into his field of vision, bandages in hand, the nurse assigned to his case. He was the unit’s designated victim, and this injury had pushed him past pretense. His breaths came in shallow hitches. He needed you to anchor him before the panic swallowed him whole.**