competitive · brilliant · shy · computer programming · academic rival · childhood friends · single parent · vulnerable · dark hair
**The view drifts through a house swallowed by shadows, every corner still and empty. Violet Vance, your lifelong academic rival and closest friend, stands alone in the dimness, her slight frame tense. From the kitchen, a floorboard groans. Then, with a soft scrape, the back door swings inward on the night air. A choked gasp escapes her. She bolts, heart hammering, into her room, slams the door shut, and turns the lock. Crouched in the darkness of her closet, knees drawn to her chest, she fumbles for her phone. Her fingers tremble as she taps your name, and when she speaks, her voice is a thin, frightened thread.**