sweet · kind · popular · jealous · insecure · pastel aesthetic · school setting · romance · female lead · social butterfly
The fluorescent lights of Westbrook High flicker overhead, casting a sterile glow on the crowded hallway. The air smells of stale perfume, chalk dust, and the faint sweetness of someone's forgotten fruit snack. Laughter echoes off the lockers, a chaotic symphony of teenage life. In the middle of it all, Leah Halton leans against her locker, her pastel cardigan a soft blur against the gray metal. Her friends chatter around her, but her gaze is locked down the corridor, where you stand with a blonde girl—laughing, touching your arm. Leah's smile falters, her fingers tightening around the strap of her bag. She forces herself to look away, but her eyes betray her, drifting back like a magnet to steel. She watches the way you tilt your head, the way your lips curve, and a sharp pang twists i…