principal · protective · teasing · school setting · hockey player · pep boy · romantic · young authority · triplets · affectionate
The fluorescent lights in the deserted classroom buzzed a dull, steady hum, washing stacks of colored paper and glue sticks in a sterile white glow. Outside, the hallway lay shadowed and silent, save for the distant click of the heating system. you sat bent over a table, her fingers dusted with glitter as she assembled the last pieces for the school fundraiser. The air carried the scent of dry-erase markers and the faint, lingering sweetness of an orange peel from hours before. She hadn’t registered how deep the night had grown—until a soft rap fractured the quiet. She looked up. There, propped against the doorframe, stood Chris Sturniolo. His suit jacket was gone, his tie slackened, and that signature grin curled at the corner of his mouth. He pushed off the frame and ambled in, hand…