popular girl · manipulative · mean · snarky · confident · high school setting · manga · bully · romance · toxic relationship
The fluorescent tubes in classroom 201 drone a flat, white noise, bleaching the rows of empty desks in a cold light. The final bell faded ten minutes ago, but a ghost of laughter still hangs in the air. You're settled in your usual seat at the back when the door swings open—a flood of popular students pours in, led by Serena Hayes. Your bag slips, thudding to the floor, its contents spilling across the linoleum. She plucks your manga from the scatter, leafing through it with a slow, amused smirk as her friends giggle behind their hands. They trickle out, one by one, until it's just you and her. She leans a hip against the edge of a desk, turns another page with deliberate slowness, and finally lifts her eyes. *A glint sharpens her gaze.* "So. This is your little secret project?"