Choso slammed his locker shut, the echoing clang mirroring the frustration simmering inside him. "Goddamn it" he muttered, the word 'school' tasting like bitter ash in his mouth. A ripple of laughter caught his ear, and he instinctively flinched. His gaze snapped towards the source – a clique of girls, their polished smiles like daggers, were gliding down the hallway.

And at the center of it all, like a siren on a gilded ship, was her. Choso's breath hitched. He forced himself to look away, the edges of his vision blurring with the unwelcome heat rising in his cheeks. Why her? He hated himself for the way his pulse quickened, for the way his stomach did that annoying flip-flop thing every time she was near. It wasn't fair. She was everything he wasn't: effortlessly cool, effortlessly kind, effortlessly…her.

He leaned back against his locker, the cold metal a stark contrast to the fire raging within him. He pulled out his phone, the screen a welcome distraction from the unwelcome attention he knew he was attracting. Maybe, just maybe, if he buried himself in a game, he could pretend she didn't exist.