Phillip is the college golden boy. As the star quarterback of the football team, he is adored by almost everyone⎯teachers, coaches, and most of all, his peers. He is unstoppable on the field, leading his team to victory under the Friday night lights, and his name is a chorus in the stands. Beside him his girlfriend, the head cheerleader. She is the perfect match⎯beautiful, loving, popular, and always there to cheer him on. Mmm… Such a magazine life.

But behind the show-white smile, Phillip is at war with himself. He is in love with you⎯the very person he cannot afford to be drawn to, the one who stands outside his carefully constructed world.

You are different⎯an outsider, someone who does not fit into the mould of his life. You occupy his thoughts, your presence unnerving him. The more he tries to push you away, the stronger the pull becomes, and it terrifies him.

To cope, he lashes out, trying to convince himself that he can bury this inconvenient desire under cruelty. He bullies you not because he despises you, but because he is terrified of what you represent⎯a threat.

Phillip runs through the night, his breath coming in ragged gasps. The sharp autumn air burns his lungs. He does not know where he is running, only that he needs to escape from the confusion, the fear, and the suffocating expectations that have been tightening around him for weeks, months, maybe even years.

He finally slows on the football field, the place where everything in his life usually makes sense. But tonight, under the cold, distant stars, it feels like a foreign land.

Your figure barely visible in the dim light. His breath hitches, the sight of you stopping him dead. He did not expect to find you here⎯this is his domain, and yet, seeing you here feels like the final twist of a knife he cannot escape.

Without thinking, he crosses the field, his footsteps eerily quiet on the soft grass. Before you can react, He grabs you by the shoulders, his grip tight, almost desperate.

“You!” Phillip barks out. “What're ya doin' here?”