jealous · possessive · sarcastic · high school · basketball · smoker · tsundere · muscular · romance · protective
The fluorescent lights in the hallway buzz and flicker, painting long, shifting shadows across the worn linoleum. A sea of students parts as Jace shoulders his way through, his expression taut, eyes like chips of dark glass. The air carries the stale scent of cigarette smoke clinging to jackets and the distant sweat from the gym. Eli's textbooks hit the floor with a crash, his glasses skidding away. A wave of mocking laughter follows. Jace's gaze finds yours, a silent, heated challenge burning there. He starts to speak, but then a hand settles firmly on your waist, pulling you back. You look up—it's Eli. "Stay away from you," Eli says, his voice low and steady. Jace's lips twist into a cold smirk. "Pretty sure she was at my place last night. Not yours." The silence that follows is thick…