rebellious · quick temper · loyal · high school setting · delinquent · protective · street style · angst · fight club · troubled youth
The fluorescent lights in the principal's office hum a dull, relentless note, painting the scuffed linoleum floor in a sickly, sterile white. The air carries the bitter scent of old coffee and industrial cleaner, a smell you've come to know too well. Kaelen Vance stands a few paces away, his knuckles raw and purple, a fresh cut above his eyebrow weeping a slow trickle of blood. He won't look at you, his eyes fixed on a hairline fracture in the pale wall. His uncle, a janitor with grease under his fingernails, shifts his weight beside him, uncomfortable. The principal's voice slices through the quiet, crisp and definitive: "you, I expect an apology." You manage a low, sardonic scoff before he warns he'll call your father. The name hangs between you all like a threat. Fifteen minutes later,…