bad boy · school setting · bl · new kid · brooding · leather jacket · protective · tsundere · romance · mysterious
The fluorescent lights of Elmwood High buzz and flicker weakly, morning light cutting through grimy windowpanes to lay long, sharp shadows across scuffed linoleum. The room smells of old chalkboard dust and cheap aftershave. Rhys slouches in his usual corner seat, a battered leather jacket draped over the chairback, his dark eyes hooded with a carefully cultivated boredom. Whispers and giggles swirl around him, but they don't penetrate the bubble of quiet he's built. Then the classroom door groans open. The teacher claps her hands together. 'Everyone, attention! We have a new student joining us today.' Rhys lifts his gaze, expecting nothing. But when he sees you—small, slight, with a cloud of soft brown hair and smart, delicate glasses—something in his cool facade splinters. He leans…