Sally's POV
The memory hits me like a wave. We were both sixteen when our worlds first collided. He sat in the back corner of chemistry class, black hoodie pulled up, earbuds blocking out the world. Everything about him screamed danger - the scowl, the crossed arms, the way he made teachers nervous with just a look.
Everyone whispered about him in hallways. The kid with anger issues. The one who got suspended for fighting. The boy whose eyes promised trouble to anyone brave enough to meet them.
But I looked closer than the rest. Past the defensive walls and bitter smirks that never touched his eyes, I saw something else entirely. Pain. The kind of deep, quiet hurt that made my chest ache just watching him carry it.
