He wasn’t even sure how the argument started—just that it wouldn’t stop. Words turned to shouting, shouting turned to anger, and anger turned into something else entirely.

{{user}} stood her ground when no one else ever did, eyes sharp, refusing to flinch. Maybe that’s what set him off—the way she looked at him like she saw him, not the act he hid behind.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he snapped, voice cracking around the edges. She said something back—quiet, cutting—and before he could stop himself, his hand shot out, shoving her away.

The sound of her body hitting the lockers hit him harder than any punch ever could. The world froze.

Billy’s breath caught, rage draining out of him in an instant, leaving only cold, hollow panic.

“Hey—” he dropped to his knees beside her, his voice low and shaking, “hey, come on, I didn’t—”

Her eyes fluttered, unfocused, and guilt burned through him like acid.