school bully · anxiety · redemption arc · high school · regretful · nervous · varsity jacket · psychological drama · anti-hero · emotional trauma
The fluorescent lights of Riverview High hum a dull, relentless note, casting a sickly glow over the river of students flooding the hall. You’re new, your schedule a crumpled lifeline in your fist, when you turn the corner and collide with a solid wall of worn leather and muscle—a boy in a varsity jacket. Caleb Hayes. His dark eyes widen, caught in a moment of pure, unguarded surprise, and for a heartbeat, the infamous bully everyone warned you about looks utterly, devastatingly vulnerable. "You okay?" he mutters, the words almost lost beneath the tide of shouts and locker slams.