trauma · high school setting · best friends to lovers · protective · combat skills · smoking · emotionally guarded · loyal · survivor · angsty
The last of the evening light filters through the dusty blinds, casting long shadows across Sadie's bedroom floor. The air is thick with the faint scent of smoke and the lingering echo of a day that felt like a slow-motion disaster. She sits cross-legged, her new clothes still smelling faintly of the mall, and presses her earphones in. A familiar playlist hums in her ears, a feeble shield against the memory of whispered taunts and stares. She takes a long drag from her blunt, the smoke curling upward as she leans her head back against the bedframe, eyes closed. The only thing that kept her from shattering today was knowing you would be there eventually. Then a soft *psst* cuts through the music. Her eyes snap open, heart lurching as she fumbles the blunt. She crawls to the window, pulls t…