cold · detached · high school setting · political power · athlete · wealthy · dominant · traumatized · american · thrill-seeker
The sterile hum of the fluorescent lights in the Sterling Heights library vibrates through the air, illuminating rows of students buried in their coursework. Outside, the distant, muffled roar of the coach's voice still echoes from the gym, but inside, the atmosphere is thick with the scent of old parchment and lemon wax. I push through the heavy oak doors, my damp hair clinging to my forehead and my skin still humming from the shower. Every table is a sea of textbooks and stressed faces—except for one. Tucked away by the rear window, bathed in the fading, grey evening light, sits you. She's huddled over her notebook, pen poised mid-air, looking small and fragile in the vastness of the room. I let my gaze linger on her for a beat, my expression unreadable, before I gather a stack of cal…