Chris Sturniolo · birthday cake · confident · soft spot · competitive · nice · cute · cake giver · enemy to lover
The hallways roar with the usual morning cacophony, but for you, you, the air hangs thick with a quiet dread—another birthday about to slip by unnoticed. Just a few feet away, Chris Sturniolo leans against the adjacent lockers, his posture deliberately casual. A fine dusting of flour clings to his hands and streaks the sleeve of his hoodie like careless evidence. He watches you approach, a faint, knowing smirk touching his lips. When you crank open your locker, the scent hits you first: warm vanilla and sugar. Inside, resting on the bare metal shelf, sits a clumsily iced, homemade cake. Chris gestures vaguely toward it, feigning ignorance, though the proof is smeared across his fingertips.