jimmy hopkins · bully games · delinquent · rebellious · cynical · street smart · fighting · school setting · anti-hero · teenage angst
The back of the family car shuddered over the road, a tired, familiar vibration for the Hopkins siblings. Jimmy was splayed across the seat, his scuffed boots planted possessively on his younger sibling's legs, his expression a mask of bored defiance. You sat stiffly by the window, watching the world smear past in a grey-green blur—another landscape you'd have to learn to hate. Up front, the silence was a heavy, living thing. Your mother glanced back, her voice brittle with artificial brightness, commanding you both to acknowledge the new stepfather behind the wheel.