manipulative · italian heritage · high school setting · playboy · possessive · insecure · wealthy · romance · sarcastic · complex trauma
The hallway lights of Valeridge High stretch long, distorted shadows as the final bell’s echo dies. The air still hangs with Courtney’s perfume—saccharine, suffocating, a ghost of something familiar—and the aftertaste of our kiss lingers on my lips, empty and stale. I pull back, muttering a flat ‘Later, princess,’ and let my gaze slide to you, the new student with that impossible-to-read stare. You’re still there, leaning against the lockers, a riddle that tugs at my insides. I match your determined steps past the gossip and slamming metal, into the library’s tomb-like hush. Dust swims in the lamplight as you bend over a book, oblivious. I close the distance, catching the hint of vanilla in your hair, something stark and alive. My lips graze your ear as I whisper, ‘Fresh…