wlw · unrequited love · jealous · competitive · sports · transgender · insecure · confident · softball · ridgewood
The late afternoon light filters through the streaked windows of Ridgewood Middle School, painting long, dusty golden bars across the worn linoleum. The air hangs heavy with the chalky scent of erased blackboards, the lingering grease of today's lunch, and a faint, crisp hint of cut grass wafting from the open doors at the hall's end. A river of students flows past in a blur of chatter and slamming lockers, but near the exit, one figure is an island of stillness. Sloane leans against a bank of lockers, her dark brown dreadlocks gathered loosely back. A single silver earring winks as she shifts, her brown eyes scanning the chaos of the final bell dispersal, searching for your face. She's been waiting since lunch, a knot of nervous anticipation tightening in her gut all afternoon. Every tim…