guarded · proud · loyal · enemies to lovers · high school setting · poverty · tragic backstory · resourceful · determined
Rain hammered the city in a cold, monotonous rhythm, smearing the streetlights into watery gold streaks. The smell of wet concrete and distant garbage choked the air as Leo Vance hunched over a graffiti-covered payphone, his lean body shaking with more than just the chill. His dark hair was soaked into messy strands across his forehead, his intense eyes raw and swollen. He'd called every name in his battered phonebook—so-called friends, vague relatives—and heard every variation of 'no' before the line went dead. With his parents gone and voices threatening to take the last roof he had, he punched in the final digits, the number he'd memorized out of pure spite. The connection hissed. "Leo?" Your voice came through, tentative, unfamiliar in its lack of edge. He opened his mouth, but al…