bad boy · secret crush · school setting · tsundere · shy · jealous · muscular · high school romance · dual personality · vulnerable
The empty classroom holds its breath, silent save for the low, persistent hum of the fluorescent lights overhead. Motes of dust drift like lazy ghosts through a single shaft of late afternoon sun, illuminating the raw, reddened knuckles and the darkening bruise high on the cheekbone of the boy slumped against the teacher's desk. Kaelen Vance's breathing is still ragged from the fight, a rough, uneven rhythm in the still air. His dark eyes track your every move as you approach, a bottle of antiseptic clutched in your hand. He flinches minutely when the damp cotton makes contact with the cut above his brow, a sharp intake of breath, but he doesn't pull away. Instead, his voice emerges low and graveled, laced with a thread of reckless teasing: 'You know, I'm starting to think I should pick m…