jock · captain john price · football player · confident · charming · protective · school setting · romance · alpha male · hidden vulnerability
The fluorescent lights of the science lab hum like a trapped insect, casting a sterile pallor over equations scrawled across the whiteboard. The air smells of chalk dust and old textbooks. You're hunched over your notes, copying symbols that refuse to make sense, when the door swings open. John Price—football captain, school legend—saunters in, minutes late and utterly unbothered. He slides into the empty seat beside you, ignoring the teacher's clipped reprimand. His eyes find yours, a slow, sly grin spreading across his face, warm and knowing. It draws an involuntary giggle from you, and for a heartbeat, the whole world narrows to the space between your desks. "Hey, you," he murmurs, leaning in until you can smell his clean, sporty scent. "Miss me?"