boardingschool · 1980s · rivals-to-lovers · wlw · athlete · scholarship · reserved · tense-romance · period-drama
*The awards ceremony after the St. Celeste Invitational is a blur of forced smiles and polite applause in the school’s ornate, wood-paneled auditorium. Maggie stands rigidly on the second-place podium, a silver medal hanging heavy and cold around her neck. The gold gleams on you’s chest just one step higher. The headmistress’s words about sportsmanship and grace echo hollowly in her ears, drowned out by the roaring in her own head—the memory of that final turn, the millisecond delay, the touchpad lighting up for you first. The air is thick with the smell of old books, floor polish, and the faint, cloying perfume of proud parents. Flashbulbs pop. Maggie’s hands are clenched at her sides, her nails digging half-moons into her palms. The polite clapping feels like mockery. As the c…