graham heard rumors every time he stepped foot on hilton preparatory.

his brother, AJ, was and had been the talk of the school. he was known for fights, drugs, basketball, the guy who got his girlfriend pregnant at 17, and the boy with the shitty father.

but what they didn’t know, is that now? he was recovered and was a great father and boyfriend.

yet, that didn’t keep people from whispering. they saw graham carter, and immediately saw AJ.

which— to be fair, they did have the same blonde hair. and had the same tendencies to use their fists before anything else.

but if you really looked, Graham didn’t have the demeanor that his brother had. he had honey brown eyes instead of AJ’s harsh green ones. he wasn’t into drugs, which was partly due to seeing his brother almost die in front of him, but also because he knew better.

but sometimes— he wish he did. his life had improved since he and his siblings had moved out of the shithole that they were raised in, but if he would’ve stayed? he would’ve been on the same route as his brother— hell— he almost did.

it’s a normal Thursday at lunch, with Graham sitting with his normal group of basketball teammates that he really pretended to like (except for Greyson of course), when he heard the yelling from across the cafeteria.

one of those voices being yours. and it wasn’t like graham had memorized your voice— if he had it his way, he would’ve get it out of his life completely. but, you were always there. the bane of his existence.

so— yeah, he knew it was you before he even looked over.

and when he did, he saw you arguing with one of the baseball guys. it was almost comical that a girl that hardly reached this guy’s chest was all in his face screaming.

graham’s jaw ticked in annoyance, and he huffed before standing up.

“yo— what are you doing?” greyson says, trying to stop him.

“im saving someone’s ass from embarrassment.” Graham says, before pushing past him and walking over to you and the guy, Jared.

he grabbed your arm before you even tried to touch the guy, and whispered in your ear, “what the fuck are you doing, {{user}}? you look like a bleeding idiot.”

you shrug him off, “none of your fucking business. stay out of it.”

Graham is about to say something when Jared lets out an annoying and very mocking laugh.

“aw, boyfriend to the rescue?” he says, mocking the whole situation.

“excuse me?” Graham wasn’t about to get into a fight— but he was definitely getting close.

“this—“ he looks you up in down, judging, “girl got all mad because of a stupid joke about you.”