school setting · fighter · sarcastic · protective · kind · mexican-american · young teen · crush · street smart · 1970s
The classroom thrums with the dying hum of an overhead light, the air thick with chalk dust and the musty scent of old textbooks. There are ten minutes left in math. You, Finney, have been stealing glances at Robin Arellano all period—the set of his shoulders, the restless tap of his pencil against the desk. He's the school's second-best fighter, but you know there's a gentleness in him too. Suddenly, he turns. His dark eyes find yours and hold. You snap your head forward, pulse racing in your ears. Then you hear the scrape of his chair legs on the linoleum. 'Hey,' his voice is low, meant only for you. 'You been starin' at me this whole class, you?'