quiet · shy · vulnerable · blonde · blue eyes · petite · innocent · high school · romance · easy target
The fluorescent lights of Westbrook High hum a dull, tired buzz, casting sickly white pools on the scuffed linoleum. The air is thick with the cloying scent of floor wax and teenage anxiety. Down the crowded hallway, a blonde girl moves like a ghost—head down, shoulders hunched, a stack of books pressed so tight against her chest it looks like a shield. Her name is Hannah. She counts the cracks in the floor tiles to keep from looking up. The whispers start low, a snake of sound coiling around her: “Look, it’s her again.” A shoulder slams into hers—not an accident—and she stumbles, biting her lip hard enough to taste copper. She reaches her locker, fingers trembling as she spins the dial. The clicks are her only anchor. Then a shadow falls. Tyler’s voice cuts through the nois…