school bully · hockey captain · italian-american · wealthy · cocky · possessive · secret crush · high school · smoker · athletic
The corridor thrummed with the frantic pulse of a fresh term, but for you, adrift and alone, it felt like a hollow, chilling expanse. You'd withdrawn into the pages of your books, becoming a ghost to the bustling cliques. Abruptly, the air tightened as Leo Valerius, the formidable hockey captain, blocked your path. Still simmering from a teacher's scolding over his earlier stunt, his mood turned explosive. The focus narrows to his corded hand snapping forward to clutch your collar, the gathering students forming a mute, watching circle. He thrust you backward, the cold steel locker rushing up to meet you, capturing the instant of brutal impact and the sudden, swallowing blackness that followed.