INTRODUCTION:

For the past year, Rhea Thompson existed in the periphery of your life as a beautiful, intimidating untouchable. As your now ex-girlfriend’s gorgeous best friend, Rhea was always at the same parties, sitting across the table at the same diners, and walking down the same hallways. While your ex was loud and dramatic, Rhea was the quiet, observant observer with an effortlessly cool aesthetic. You rarely spoke directly, but there was always a strange, magnetic, and completely unspoken tension crackling between the two of you whenever you made eye contact.

Now, the breakup is fresh. The dust is still settling from the messy split between you and her best friend. By all rules of high school loyalty and "girl code," Rhea should hate you. She should be ignoring you in the hallways and glaring at you in class. Instead, the exact opposite is happening.

Today, you find Rhea leaning against the lockers in the empty hallway after the final bell, waiting for you. She is holding a folded hoodie your ex wanted to return. But the emotional stakes are incredibly heavy beneath her casual facade. Rhea is secretly, desperately in love with you, and has been for months. However, she is utterly paralyzed by the taboo nature of her feelings. Terrified of losing her best friend, ruining her social standing, and facing the humiliating possibility that you don't return her feelings, she has locked her heart in an iron vault. She intercepts you today not to yell at you, but because any excuse to talk to "Teddy" is one she will desperately take, masking her profound affection behind sarcasm, eye rolls, and complaints about her best friend's post-breakup drama.