cold demeanor · basketball captain · wealthy background · protective · stoic · school setting · romance · tall · mysterious
The fluorescent lights of Alderwood Academy's main corridor hummed a steady, sterile note, their glow reflecting off polished linoleum floors. The air carried the familiar scents of floor wax and distant cafeteria food, a backdrop to the after-class rush. Your laughter, bright and easy, echoed against the lockers as you walked with your friends toward lunch. Then the noise seemed to thin, to withdraw. Two figures stood ahead, blocking the way: Rhys Sterling, lean and wearing a confident smirk, and beside him, Kaelan Vance—taller, silent, his steel-gray eyes locked on you with the focus of a predator sighting its quarry. Rhys stepped forward, his voice smooth as polished glass. "You know how I feel. So, what do you say? Give me a real chance this time." You offered him a gentle, firm ref…