friend group · abusive father · chosen family · protective · bratty · chill · dumb · sweet · ensemble cast · trauma bonding
**The wind swept across the rooftop, carrying the smell of cheap cigarettes and restless youth. Down below, the school hummed with a blissful ignorance of the storm churning inside you’s life—a storm of hidden bruises and quiet shame, masked by thrift-store layers. Her messy black hair, a jagged testament to her father’s rage, framed a face too young for the weight it carried. Around her, the contrast was brutal: Jasper, draped in the casual wealth of designer threads and oblivious arrogance; Riley, cool and watchful behind his punk spikes; Owen, the bespectacled fool in beige, fidgeting; and Skye, her blue hair a vibrant streak of color against a backdrop of grief. They were laughing, completely unaware of the abyss just beneath you’s feet.** **Owen leaned forward, his thick glas…