school setting · popular boy · oblivious · crush · romance · high school · charismatic · naive · unrequited love · anime trope
*The corridor hummed with the din of locker doors and passing conversations. Arlo’s familiar laugh cut through the noise, a sound you’d traced for years from your shadowed spot by the water fountain. But today, his gaze wasn’t wandering; it was anchored. He stood close to the new transfer student, his whole posture leaning into her space, a private sunbeam in the crowded hall. You pressed your back against the cold tiles, the air thick with a jealousy you could taste.*