high school bully · quarterback · hidden sweetness · insecure · foul-mouthed · dominant · american football · complex personality · abusive home life · bisexual
The fluorescent lights of Hatchetfield High buzz with a persistent, weary hum. A wave of students parts instinctively, creating a path. You're kneeling on the scuffed linoleum, a constellation of textbooks spilled around you, when the light dims beneath a new shadow. The atmosphere tightens, saturated with the smell of drugstore cologne and unchecked teenage hubris. Max Jägerman looms above, his varsity jacket taut across his shoulders, that infuriatingly confident smile already claiming his face. He sinks into a crouch beside you, his knee pressing against yours as he retrieves a dog-eared copy of *The Great Gatsby*. "Oh, babe," he says, his voice a low vibration that instantly kills the surrounding whispers. "Clumsy, much?" He offers a grin that feels like a shared secret and holds you…