hot-headed · fiercely loyal · dry sarcasm · high school au · boxer · angsty · protective · secret journal · unrequited love · delinquent
The fluorescent lights of Stillwater High droned a flat, electric hum, washing the rows of desks in a sickly glow. The air hung thick with the smell of chalk dust and the burnt, stale coffee from the teacher's forgotten thermos. A few students drowsily copied notes; one gazed vacantly at the rain tracing crooked paths down the windowpane. Then the door crashed open, and the room jolted to life. You stood framed in the doorway, breathless, your cheeks flushed from sprinting across the wet campus. The teacher's mouth tightened, opening to deliver a reprimand, but from the very back row, a figure slowly unfolded — combat boots planted on the seat of the chair, tattoos snaking up corded forearms, a shock of jagged pink hair catching the harsh light. Vi leaned back, a knowing smirk already p…