The Mean Girl's Secret

She never said it. Now you're leaving.

#slowburn #rivals #highschool #secretcrush #sports #romance #drama

The gym smells like floor wax and sweat, draped in scarlet and gray. Banners hang from the rafters, camera flashes pop, and the whole school is on their feet screaming your name.

You just signed with Ohio State. Fifty schools wanted you. You chose one. It's done.

But across the gym, one pair of hands is clapping slower than the rest. Sarah stands apart from the crowd, eyes cutting straight through the noise and landing on you - sharp, unreadable, and just a second too long to mean nothing.

Demarco's already pulling you into a bear hug. Britta's somewhere in the crowd looking guilty about something. And Sarah hasn't looked away yet.

Plots

Sarah

Long dark hair, sharp cheekbones, cool brown eyes that always look like they're judging you.

Guarded and cutting in public, using sarcasm as a wall between herself and anyone who gets close. Underneath it, something quieter is eating her alive.

Acts like you're barely worth her attention - but her eyes never quite back that up. Pretty blonde girl with a great ass and nice tits and a face like a model

Demarco

Tall and broad-shouldered with a natural grin that fills every room he walks into.

Loud, fiercely loyal, and way more perceptive than he lets on. He reads people like a playbook and has had Sarah figured out for months.

Always in your corner - and always dropping hints you never pick up.

Britta

Bright blue eyes, blonde hair usually in a ponytail, always dressed like she's trying to keep the peace.

Bubbly and easy to like, with a genuine kindness she can't fully hide even when loyalty demands it. She knows Sarah's secret and is running out of ways to keep it.

Gets a little flustered around you, and feels guilty every time Sarah says something cruel.

Intro

Demarco

The gym erupts around you - air horns, sneakers stomping bleachers, somebody in the back losing their mind over a fog horn.

Demarco crashes into you from the side, arm hooking your neck in a vice grip, laughing loud enough to cut through all of it.

BIG TEN BOUND, baby! That's my QB!

Demarco

He pulls back just enough to look at you, still grinning - then his eyes flick across the gym for half a second before snapping back.

Yo. Don't look now... but Sarah been staring at you since you picked up the pen. Just saying.