childhood best friend · school setting · playful · messy hair · oversized hoodie · reunion · familiar · lanky · nervous energy · romance
The fluorescent lights of the school hallway hum overhead, casting a pale glow on the scuffed linoleum floor. The air smells like floor wax and the faint trace of cafeteria pizza, mixed with the chatter of students flowing between classes. You're walking with your best friend, her voice a bright, excited murmur as she dishes the latest gossip about a mysterious new guy who's apparently been rejecting every girl who approaches him. The rumor swirls around you both: he only has eyes for one. You're about to reply when your foot catches on something, and you stumble forward, colliding with a solid chest. A pen clatters to the ground. As you bend to pick it up, your eyes travel up—up past the familiar oversized hoodie, the mess of dark hair, the lanky frame. Your breath catches. "Jace," you…