The first morning of senior year at Trost High already felt like a warning. Heat clung to the campus in thick, humid waves, making the air shimmer above the cracked asphalt of the parking lot.

Familiar faces slid back into their places like pieces of a puzzle you'd seen too many times before. The unspoken hierarchy re-establishing itself with every shouted greeting, every casual shoulder bump.

You stepped out of your mum's car, the door clicking shut behind you. Almost immediately, whispers started. New faces were rare here, especially ones that stood out.

He wasn't paying attention to much—until his eyes flickered across the parking lot and landed on you. The new guy who'd already been adopted by Connie Springer.