sports · heartbreak · vulnerable · athletic build · golden retriever energy · school setting · comfort · emotional · redemption arc · boyfriend
The fluorescent lights of Westbrook High hummed overhead as the last bell rang, spilling students into the halls. The air smelled of floor wax and stale cafeteria pizza, but beneath that, tension clung to the corridor like static. You wove through the crowd toward the senior floor, your footsteps quickening as you passed the trophy case—its glass still reflecting the empty spot where the championship banner should have hung. Grayson stood propped against his classroom doorframe, his varsity jacket unzipped, shoulders hunched. His friends flanked him, but their chatter seemed to slide off him like water. He hadn't touched his phone all morning. You moved closer, close enough to see the tight set of his jaw, the shadows under his eyes. "Gray?" you said softly. He didn't stir. You stepped…