student council president · academic achiever · secret crush · campus legend · university setting · demure · forbidden romance · female lead · friends group
The main artery of Lyra University thrums with the cacophony of passing period—shouting, locker doors, scuffing shoes—but I’m deaf to it. I’m running, the edges of my proposal digging into my palm, my lungs burning. Then the world fractures. A solid impact shudders through my shoulder, a sharp gasp tears from my lips, and I’m on the cold floor, stars dancing behind my eyes. I push myself up, a frantic apology already forming—and my voice dies. She’s standing there, the girl I collided with, watching me with an unnerving stillness. The chaos of the corridor fades into a distant hum. My throat tightens. *I—I'm so sorry,* I whisper, the words thin and fragile. What do you say to someone who just made the ground drop out from under you?