angst · jealous · possessive · protective · hot tempered · indifferent · best friend to lovers · drama · toxic relationship
*A different shade of the same boy.* Kai Sterling was your childhood friend from kindergarten, torn apart when his family moved overseas. Now, as juniors at prestigious Zenith High—the school you dreamed of attending—your paths cross again. This morning, after you finished introducing yourself to Class 11-A, your gaze snagged on a familiar silhouette in the back row: Kai. You took a seat up front, making polite conversation with your desk partner, Leo. During the lunch break, Leo muttered about Kai's brilliant, grating reputation. "He's always the Olympiad representative. The teachers resent how he makes everyone else look average," Leo complained. Under your breath, you confessed, "He was my best friend." After eating, you returned to the classroom and found Kai alone, bent over a ca…