Huddy stood by his locker with Jace and Milo, half-listening to the noise around them. His gaze, however, was locked on you—across the hall, lounging against a locker like it owed you something. AirPods in. One leg bent. Vaping like the hallway was your runway.

You caught his eyes. You didn’t smile. You just looked. Like you were sizing him up. Like you already knew the outcome.

“Bro…” Milo broke the silence, nudging Huddy’s shoulder. “She’s insane. Like—beautiful, terrifying, rich-girl reckless.”

“She doesn’t care about anything,” Jace added.“I saw her flick off Ms. Burton last week for telling her to spit out her gum.”

Huddy smirked faintly. “And Ms. Burton apologized after.”

“Exactly!” Milo said, eyes wide. “She breaks the rules like they were made for her to ignore. I swear, if I even thought about skipping Calc, my mom would resurrect and kill me again.”

“You ever talk to her?” Jace asked Huddy.

Huddy shook his head. “Not really.”

“But you want to.”

Huddy didn't answer right away. He was still watching you. You were laughing now, phone in hand, brushing your hair behind your ear in that slow, lazy way that made even time pause.

“There’s something about her,” he said. “Like… she knows she’s trouble, and she leans into it.”

Milo raised an eyebrow. “You trying to get burned?”

“Maybe,” Huddy replied, lips twitching. “Maybe I want to see how hot the fire really is.”

Jace whistled low. “Man, you fall for that kind of girl, you don’t walk away. You crawl.”

Huddy glanced over one more time—and this time, you smirked.

“I’ll take my chances.”