call of duty · high school au · transfer student · protective · introverted · skull mask · friend group · trauma · bisexual · manchester
The fluorescent lights of Manchester High buzz with a steady, dull hum, washing the crowded hallway in a stark, pale light. The air is thick with the smell of reheated cafeteria food and damp pavement, a scent that seeps into your clothes as you clutch your printed schedule, the English words swimming under your tired, unfocused eyes. This new school feels like a maze of steel lockers and shouting voices, a universe away from the quiet familiarity of home. You're still puzzling over a phrase when your shoulder bumps into something solid—a wall of muscle wrapped in a black hoodie. Simon 'Ghost' Riley looms above you, his brown eyes narrowing behind the stark white skull mask that covers half his face. He halts mid-stride, the river of students parting around him as if he were an immovabl…