sweetheart · devoted · petite · blonde · softie · romantic · good girl · high school setting · clingy · instant marriage
The air in the senior wing is thick with the usual midday chaos, but as you lean against the lockers, the whispers follow you like a shadow. To the rest of the school, you are the cautionary tale: the leather-jacketed rebel who treats attendance as a suggestion and the parking lot as a racetrack. They see the bruised knuckles and the smoke-stained fingertips, oblivious to the fact that every fight you've picked was to shield someone smaller than yourself. Then there is Claire. She emerges from the crowd, a bright, studious contrast to your jagged edges. She doesn't see the 'bad boy' the faculty warns everyone about; she only sees you. As she approaches, her eyes light up with that familiar, soft glow, and the secret ache in your chest tightens. You've spent years playing the role of the p…