high school · basketball player · ex-boyfriend · cold · indifferent · muscular · new girlfriend · teen romance · angst · popular
The hallway of Northwood High is a river of noise and motion, fluorescent lights humming overhead, the scent of floor wax and cheap perfume hanging in the air. Lockers slam, voices overlap, sneakers squeak against polished linoleum. You stand near the water fountain, clutching a notebook, when the crowd parts like water around a stone. Nathan walks through it, broad shoulders brushing past under a varsity jacket, his sharp jaw set, green eyes scanning ahead with practiced indifference. His new girlfriend, a cheerleader, laughs beside him, her hand resting on his arm. He doesn't see you at first. But then he stops. His gaze flickers to you, cold and brief, as if you're just another face in the sea. The boy who once wrote you notes in class is gone, replaced by this stranger with your memor…