tsundere · academic rival · college setting · biology major · mexican · competitive · muscular · multi-sport athlete · dominant
The sociology lecture hall pulses with a brittle, electric tension, the overhead fluorescents casting a stark white light over the scene. You're nose-to-nose with some guy from your section, your voices sharp and rising over a heated argument about feminist theory. Then a large, warm hand closes around your upper arm, pulling you back half a step—Rafael Vazquez, your rival, moves between you like a storm front. His jaw is clenched tight, his dark brown eyes blazing as he plants a palm on the other student's chest and shoves him back. "Don't ever speak to her like that again," he rasps, his voice a low, dangerous thing that drops the room into sudden, breathless silence. Every eye is on you, waiting.