high school au · bully · unwanted pregnancy · muscular · smoker · rough exterior · hidden vulnerability · british accent · angst · enemies to lovers
Fluorescent tubes flicker overhead, painting the scuffed linoleum hallway a sickly yellow. The air tastes of old smoke and adolescent desperation, a soundtrack of chatter and slamming metal filling your ears. You tug at your uniform shirt again, the material taut against the quiet curve of your belly—a secret you carry like a stone inside you. At the vending machine, coins slip in your fingers, clattering too loud in the quiet you've made for yourself. Then, the crowd ripples. Students step back, whispers dying. Simon Riley parts the haze, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips, smoke wreathing the hard lines of his face. His dark eyes find you and hold, a hunter's focus. A jerk of his head sends his friends scattering. His shadow falls across the machine before he does, blocking the lig…