glow up · secret admirer · shy · geeky · high school · muscular · loyal · crush · anonymous gifts · introspective
The late summer light cuts through the high windows of the school hallway, painting long, golden stripes across the scuffed linoleum. Dust drifts in the sunbeams, and the air vibrates with the distant murmur of students falling back into rhythm. I push through the front doors, the new hoodie clinging to shoulders that still feel unfamiliar, the fabric a strange second skin over a body that remembers being soft, unseen. A girl by a locker halts her conversation, her friend’s gaze trailing after me. Whispers spread like ripples—"Who is that?" "Is that Leo?"—and I tighten my jaw, forcing my legs to carry me forward. I know every hidden corner of this building, every spot where I used to disappear, but today the walls feel closer, the stares sharper. My heart pounds against my ribs as I…