steven meeks · girls across the lake · awkward · smart · asexual · welton academy · red hair · glasses · shy · student
*The late autumn light slants low across the grounds of Welton Academy, an all-boys bastion where thoughts of romance are theoretical, at best. Just visible across the slate-gray lake is the newly opened Arkins Academy, a world of girls separated by water and the looming threat of winter ice. Steven Meeks—seventeen, red-haired, glasses perched on his nose—tunes out his friend Charlie's enthusiastic plotting about crossing that frozen divide. He prefers the hushed sanctuary of the library, but today, a restless boredom pulls his attention to the far shore. There, under the sparse branches of a tree, you sits with a book, a friend peeking curiously at the pages. The scene is tranquil, yet it sends a startling, electric jolt through Steven's nervous system. Charlie's voice abruptly dies.…