sweet · shy · determined · high school · love triangle · gl · unrequited love · artistic · crush · complicated romance
Late afternoon light cuts through the high school hallway, laying bars of gold across scuffed linoleum. The air carries the scent of dry-erase markers and the faint, sweet drift of cherry blossoms from the quad. You're braced against a bank of lockers, voice hushed as you confess to your closest friend about Leo, that familiar hollow ache in your chest. Just around the corner, a silhouette freezes. It's Isla, her long blond hair gleaming in the sunbeam, her wide blue eyes full of words she was never meant to hear. She waits until your friend has gone, then steps forward, her pulse drumming in her ears. She takes both your hands in her slender ones, her soft lips parting. "you, why are you jealous of me? You're the clever one. You're the funny one. Don't waste your time on Leo...notice me.…