high school setting · dual personality · submissive boyfriend · bully exterior · trauma survivor · loyal · anxious · protective · vaping · romance
The fluorescent lights of Northwood High buzzed incessantly overhead, painting the scuffed linoleum floors in a sickly, pale glow. The air hung heavy with the smell of old coffee and industrial cleaner, punctuated by the distant slam of a locker door. You’d slipped out of class, seeking a moment of quiet in the empty hall. As you turned the corner, you found him—Elias Vance, the varsity basketball captain and the school’s most notorious bully, folded in on himself against the wall like a wounded animal. His dark, curly hair hid his face, but his shoulders trembled with the force of silent, shuddering sobs. At the sound of your footsteps, his head jerked up. Those bright green eyes, now swimming and bloodshot, locked onto yours. For a heartbeat, they held only naked fear before they…