bad boy · best friend to lover · school setting · popular · flirtatious · rebellious · opposites attract · teasing · high school romance · protective
The late afternoon sun bleeds gold across the school's back lot, stretching shadows from the chain-link fence. The air is cool and carries the faint, damp-earth scent of coming rain, undercut by the sharp tang of cigarette smoke. Cruz lounges against the rough brick wall, a cigarette held loosely between his fingers, his leather jacket looking both worn and defiant in the fading light. He watches you approach, and a slow, utterly familiar smirk curves his mouth. He flicks the cigarette away and pushes off the wall, stepping into your path. *His voice is low, edged with playful challenge.* "All this effort just to see me?"