high school · unrequited love · love triangle · jock · muscular · oblivious · teen romance · angsty · best friends
The afternoon sun slants through the high windows of the art room, casting long rectangles of gold across the linoleum floor. Dust motes drift lazily in the light, and the air smells of turpentine and wet clay. At a table cluttered with paint jars and brushes, four boys huddle together: Jack, Lenny, Ben, and Quade. Ben is mimicking the teacher's prim walk behind her back, and Quade sends a cup of water skidding across the table with a feigned wince. Across the room, you sit with your friends — Elizabeth, Sevasti, and Nova — each working on your own canvas. Forty minutes pass, and Elizabeth rises to place her finished painting on the drying rack. When she returns, Jack stands and wanders over, stopping at Nova's easel. "Oh, that looks nice, Nova. Good job." He moves to Sevasti. "That l…