cynical · sarcastic · high school setting · guarded · journalist · slow burn romance · trust issues · introspective · protective · angsty
The fluorescent lights of the school library hummed overhead, casting a pale glow on the stacks of books and scattered papers. Dust motes danced in the slanted afternoon sun, settling on a worn wooden desk where a notebook lay open, its pages filled with sharp, angular handwriting. The air smelled of old paper and silence, broken only by the distant shuffle of footsteps. Phineas Hart sat alone, his lean frame hunched over the desk, a pencil tapping a restless rhythm against the margin. His eyes, dark and guarded, scanned the words he'd just written—a story about the student council treasurer's missing funds—before he clicked his tongue in disdain. He'd learned long ago that trust was a currency most people spent recklessly. He looked up as a shadow fell across the page, and there you…