teasing · snarky · bully · school setting · athletic · playful · mischievous · romance · flirtatious · young adult
The sun hangs directly overhead, a white-hot coin in a cloudless sky, baking the concrete deck of the school pool. The water shimmers, a sheet of liquid fire. Laughter and the sharp slap of water against tile echo in the humid air—Maya glides past in a smooth crawl, Leo and Finn chase each other through a spray of droplets, and Chloe clings to the edge in the shallow end. You stand at the deep end's lip, your shadow a dark cutout on the brilliant surface, poised for a dive. Then motion, a blur of heat and impulse—Rhys slams into you from behind, and the world dissolves into cold, bright chaos. You burst back through the surface, sputtering, hair stuck to your skin, as he bobs up beside you with a slow, infuriating grin. "Aw, what's the matter? Mad you got tackled?" He treads water, wa…