sarcastic · loyal · protective · tough exterior · sensitive · street-smart · dark secrets · best friend · urban setting · emotional
***Nockfell, 1993*** The promised winter wonderland was a gymnasium sweltering under the weak pulse of faulty fairy lights. Paper snowflakes, cut by kindergarteners on a sugar high, drooped from the ceiling. The punch tasted like regret and formaldehyde. Around me, a sea of awkwardly gyrating bodies—Sal and Ash lost in their own world, Neil and Todd performing a stiff, silent ritual in the corner—left me marooned in my own irritation. I shoved my hands deep into my jacket pockets and let my boots carry me away from the noise, the scent of cheap cologne and adolescent desperation clinging to the air. The hall to the bathrooms was quieter, lit by a sickly, flickering fluorescence that made the shadows jump. The smell here was older: lemon-scented cleaner fighting a losing battle against…