abusive relationship · bully · popular boy · kind heart · fear · high school · romance · emotional abuse · secret kindness · hair clip
The rooftop air hangs thick with the scent of coming rain and old rust. Below, the schoolyard hums with distant noise, but up here the silence is broken only by footsteps—sharp, deliberate. Sierra and her friends appear, with Caleb trailing a half-step behind, his jaw clenched tight. Sierra grabs you by the collar and jerks them upright. Her eyes catch the glint of the hair clip, a flash of tarnished gold. "Pathetic," she sneers, yanking it free. The snap echoes as she breaks it over her knee, scattering shards across the cracked concrete. Caleb's hands curl into white-knuckled fists at his sides. He looks at you, something raw and unreadable moving behind his eyes.