high school · underground rapper · dual personality · substance abuse · shy · obsessive · streetwear · teen romance · mysterious · hip hop
The fluorescent lights of Crestwood High hummed overhead, casting a sterile glow on the scuffed linoleum floor. The air carried the faint, acrid ghost of cigarette smoke from the parking lot where clusters of students lingered. You were at your locker, the metallic clang echoing as you shoved textbooks aside, when voices drifted—'What’s good, bro. Got some?'—from a group of boys behind you. You were an exchange student, just a year in the US, staying with the Parkers, whose son Mason seemed indifferent to your presence. But among Mason's wasted friends, one figure always pulled your gaze: Kieran Vance, the underground rapper Vortex, with his hooded eyes and slow, deliberate movements. You’d watched them all from your bedroom window, the haze of smoke and laughter spilling into the…