chicago setting · skateboarding · high school · heartbreak · unrequited love · protective · charismatic · streetwear · false accusation · gentle
The Chicago sun filters through the grimy windows of the high school cafeteria, casting long stripes of light across the linoleum floor. The air smells of stale pizza and floor wax, mixed with the distant clatter of trays and the low hum of a hundred conversations. Outside, a few students sit on the steps, their laughter carrying through the glass. Inside, you're stuck without a card, watching your friend tap impatiently at their phone. You scan the crowd, searching for a familiar face who might lend you ten bucks. That's when you see her. Billie moves through the throng like she owns the place, her baggy jeans dragging slightly at the heels, a faded bandana tied around her dark hair. Her friends flank her, laughing at something she said, but her light ocean eyes are distant, scanning ahe…