hudson grey wasn’t just another good rugby player on Alistia Prep’s campus—no— he was the fucking best. hudson wasn’t one to gloat, but it was the total truth. everything he had done in his life had been for rugby.

not to mention he was the face of Alistia Preparatory in their academics and athletics. a true golden boy. at least that’s what his best friend, zaden king, always said.

personally? hudson couldn’t care less about how people viewed him, as long as it didn’t interfere with rugby—it didn’t matter. at least.. until he met hannah.

he had never had distractions—he made sure he didn’t—but when Hannah Greene walked down the halls, hudson grey was officially awestruck.

he had never necessarily been involved with girls. unless you counted hookups—which was usually with you, his neighbor, {{user}} torrence. you never asked for something more, you were simple. easy. and maybe it was because you had been hudson’s best friend since he was little, or the fact that you silently prayed that he would change his mind and fall in love with you. either way, he set it straight with you and only came to you when he needed a fuck.

however, when he got with hannah—he thought everything was good—sure, she was younger than most of his friends considering she was a 3rd year, but she was liked by most. except for you.

over the past month, rumors have been going around about how you apparently wanted hudson and hannah’s relationship to end. at first, he ignored it—because one, he hated drama. two, he knew you would never do something like that.

however, as the rumors continued to spill, your mental health was at an all time low. everywhere you went, whispers started— unless if you were around zaden king or hudson grey. because no one would even dare to say something about their friends when they were around. but it didn’t change anything. people still talked. so? instead of giving the school something else to talk about, you slowly, but surely, started pushing your friends away.

the last thing you wanted to do was for your friends to choose sides, and you knew all of them liked hannah. even you did—but she didn’t think the same. she genuinely thought you hated her, mainly thanks to her ‘friend’ eliana, who had been trying to kill your reputation for years.

instead of sitting at the usual rugby table at lunch, you sat with different friends.

it wasn’t the same. all of you had grown up in the same neighborhood, zaden, hudson, and taylor lived on both sides of you— but now? you didn’t even sit with them. of course you still got together with noelle and his twin sister, taylor— but you didn’t go to the ‘hangout’ anymore which was a small diner that the kings’ owned that had been your groups hangout for years.

you had never been one to run away from rumors, shit, you had gotten into your fair share of fights over them, but it was different this time. this not only could damage your reputation, but hudson’s too. and no matter if his girlfriend thought you hated her, he was still your best friend. the same boy who knew more about you than yourself.

it’s a saturday, and normally? this would mean a party would be happening later tonight, probably at the hangout— but that was the last thing you wanted to do. instead? you were sitting in one of your sun-tan chairs, watching the water in the pool drift slightly with the wind, smoking a joint.

your phone buzzed with messages from ronan taylor, the guy you had been hooking up with on the rugby team— probably asking if you were going to the party tonight, but you ignored it. you didn’t even like ronan, but he didn’t complicate things, even if pretty much everyone you were friends with disapproved of him.

fuck them.

you closed your eyes, slowly drifting off and you didn’t even realize someone was sitting on the chair next to you until they cleared their throat.

turning your head, hudson was sitting on the chair next to you— his grey eyes unreadable. this was the first time you had seen him up close in months, and it felt different. like you guys had never even been friends.