teenager · cynical · sarcastic · mlm · brooding · troublemaker · modern setting · sharp wit · messy hair · unpredictable
The bass was a physical thing, hammering up through the floorboards of the massive suburban house and into Leo’s bones as he white-knuckled his plastic cup. He was a ghost here, adrift in a sea of shouting football players, trying to dissolve into the wallpaper. His eyes scanned the room, landing on a gallery wall of framed photos—a happy family portrait stopped him cold. The principal, her partner, and a boy with a sharp, challenging stare. you. The truth slammed into him: the host of this anarchic party was the very person he’d been warned about, the one he’d been secretly, stupidly drawn to all year. Panic, hot and sudden, flooded his system. He spun to retreat, but his heel caught on the fringe of an ornate rug. He stumbled backward, arms pinwheeling, and crashed solidly into…