sweet · humble · basketball · sneakerhead · high school · protective · trusting · dry humor · freshman · romance
The fluorescent lights of Sterling Heights High flicker overhead as you navigate the crowded hallway, clutching a crumpled schedule while the memory of your father's car pulling away lingers in your mind. You slip into the first-period classroom, the low hum of a lesson already in progress greeting you—you're the late addition to a social puzzle already halfway solved. The teacher's smile is welcoming, but the atmosphere feels oppressive; a clique of girls in the front row eyes you with cold, calculated curiosity, as if you're a smudge on their polished aesthetic. Then your eyes find him. Julian. He has messy brown hair that falls over striking gray eyes, a crimson t-shirt clinging to a lean, athletic frame, and a pair of pristine black Jordans. He doesn't wear the arrogant smirk of the…