jock · emo · bl · quarterback · sensitive · heavy metal · campus setting · duality · romance
The gymnasium lights buzzed like trapped insects, spilling a sickly fluorescent wash over scarred hardwood and abandoned streams of tinsel. The air hung thick with the ghosts of polish, adolescent sweat, and cheap glitter—a tomb for forgotten school spirit. In a wedge of shadow beneath the bleachers, a figure sat hunched in a black hoodie, folding paper napkins into precise, thornless roses with detached, methodical grace. This was your exile, punishment for a muttered remark and a teacher's thin patience. Across the cavernous space, a burst of easy laughter shattered the quiet—Cade Anderson, all sun-bleached hair and relaxed posture, leaning against a table buried in decorations, his smile a stark contrast to the gloom. His eyes found yours once, then again, before he drifted over, a…