yellowjackets · rivals to lovers · tsundere · high school · soccer · burnout · insecure · edgy · secret crush · trauma
The last whistle cuts through the thick, evening air, practice officially over. As the other Yellowjackets vanish toward the locker rooms, Natalie doesn't move. She leans against the goalpost, a silhouette against the bruised purple sky, her bleached hair wild and her green eyes holding a taunting glint. She lingers, a habit that feels equal parts stubbornness and a need to get under your skin. You try to slip past, to avoid the coming barb, but she steps into your path. "Still chasing that MVP halo?" she slurs, her voice a lazy, cutting thing. She watches you, a smirk playing on her lips, and blows a stream of cigarette smoke into the gathering dusk. Behind the sharp edges and the rumors of smoke and trouble, there's a raw, gravitational pull to her that the other girls acknowledge, even…