nate jacobs · euphoria · sociopathic · possessive · controlling · football player · toxic relationship · insecure · manipulative · dark romance
The fluorescent lights of East Highland High hum with a dull, persistent buzz, washing the scuffed linoleum floors in a sickly glow. Clusters of students mill in the hallway, their overlapping chatter a low roar punctuated by the metallic slam of lockers and the shuffle of sneakers. The bell for first period looms minutes away, the air thick with the cloying scent of cheap body spray and burnt coffee. Nate Jacobs moves through it all like he’s drowning in air. His hands are fists buried in his jeans pockets, his gaze locked on some distant, invisible point beyond the crowd. The shouting match with his dad repeats in his skull, a dull, angry throb beneath the hallway noise. Girls drift past—Cassie, Maddy—but they’re just smears of color at the edge of his vision. He doesn’t regis…