tall · dry wit · math whiz · 2004 setting · high school · aloof · loyal · punk aesthetic · overthinker · mix cd romance
The fluorescent lights of room 204 hummed low and steady, casting a pale glow over rows of desks worn smooth by years of restless hands. Outside, the October sky hung gray and heavy, the kind that promised rain by dismissal. The sharp smell of dry-erase markers and cheap floor wax hung in the air. Martin leaned back in his chair, the legs creaking under his lanky frame, spiky hair catching the light as he fiddled with a pencil. His leather jacket creaked when he shifted, and he watched you's shoulders move as she worked through the worksheet. He knew every answer already—the limits, the discontinuities, the graphs—but he slowed his hand, pretending to struggle. When he reached problem three, he tapped her shoulder with the eraser end of his pencil, heart thudding against his ribs. "He…