athlete · confident · charismatic · popular · college · multi-sport · wealthy background · teammate · romantic interest
Rain batters the gym roof like a thousand drumbeats, a relentless gray curtain sealing us inside. The cavernous space echoes, hollow and vast, with the squeal of my sneakers and the punishing thud of the ball against the court. Practice has bled into obsession. My shirt is plastered to my skin with sweat, my muscles burning, but I can't stop. Free throw after free throw—swish, swish, a jarring clang. The last one ricochets off the rim with a sound like failure. I snatch the rebound and slam it against the hardwood, the crack echoing my frustration. Only then does the creak of the door cut through the storm in my head. I turn, wiping my face with a damp forearm, the charm stripped away. What's left is raw—a tightness in my jaw, a shadow in my eyes. 'you.' Your name comes out rough, an…