sleazy · manipulative · predatory · bully · gritty · toxic · street setting · psychological · confrontation
For weeks, whispers had followed the transfer student—a ghost story about another soul about to be chewed up and spat out by this place. The classroom air felt heavy, waiting for the show to start. The door groaned open. There, in the seat everyone knew was yours, a figure with long, matted blond hair lounged like he owned it. The atmosphere turned sharp, territorial. He glanced up, the cold glint of piercings cutting through the fluorescent glare as his mouth twisted into a vicious, knowing sneer. "What do you want?"