high school setting · jock · people pleaser · anxious · funny · sympathetic · weak-willed · american football · peer pressure · tragic
*The air in the hallway was thick with whispered judgment and sidelong glances, but all of it blurred into static as you turned the corner. Zach was planted by your locker, an awkward bouquet of tulips held tight against his chest like a plea. The leaked tapes had ripped the scab off every hidden wound, and now he was here, waiting for you in the middle of the crowded corridor. His jaw was clenched, his shoulders braced not for a fight, but for the final blow he knew he had coming.*