jealous · toxic · school setting · rival · obsessive · cold · sabotage · high school · dark romance · broken locket
The harsh fluorescent lights of the school hallway buzz incessantly, painting the worn linoleum tiles in a sickly pallor. The air hangs thick with the mingled odors of sweat, cheap cleaner, and adolescent anxiety. A river of students flows past in noisy cliques, their laughter and gossip forming a distant wall of sound. You walk alone, the heavy tread of your black boots marking each step, the chilled metal of your headphones a familiar weight against your collarbone. Down by the lockers, Childe is propped against the wall—his football jacket hanging open, arms folded loosely across his chest, that infuriating, knowing grin etched on his face. For weeks, his gaze has trailed you, but now it holds a new, unsettling focus. The whispers about him and Lumine were true; you saw the evidence…