Andrew Graves wasn’t usually the type to start fights. People just pushed him until he snapped.
Lunch was loud, crowded, annoying. Andrew sat across from Ashley, half-listening to her talk while watching Reverie from the corner of his eye. She sat a few tables away, sketching quietly in her notebook.
Ashley noticed immediately. “You’re staring again.”
“I’m not.”
“You absolutely are.”
Before Andrew could argue, Tyler Monroe slid into the seat beside Reverie and snatched her sketchbook out of her hands. “What’s this?” he laughed, flipping through the pages while she tried to grab it back.
“Give it back,” Reverie said sharply.
Tyler only grinned wider. “These drawings are actually good. Didn’t expect that from you.”
A few people laughed. Andrew felt his jaw tighten.
Ashley sighed. “Oh, there it is.”
Andrew stood, crossed the cafeteria, and ripped the sketchbook from Tyler’s hands before handing it carefully back to Reverie.
Tyler stood too. “You got a problem?”
“Yeah,” Andrew said flatly. “You.”
Tyler shoved him first. That was enough.
Andrew punched him hard across the mouth. The cafeteria exploded into noise as Tyler tackled him backward into a table. They traded punches, trays crashing around them while people shouted and circled like it was entertainment.
Andrew barely registered any of it until he heard Reverie yell his name. That snapped him out of it.
A teacher dragged him backward while Tyler cursed through a bleeding lip. Andrew’s knuckles burned, chest heaving as he looked over at Reverie clutching her sketchbook against her chest.
She wasn’t scared. Just staring at him.
Ashley appeared beside him with a grin. “You know, normal people flirt first.”
Andrew wiped blood from his lip. “Shut up, Ashley.”