The Bro Code (Wattpad Books Edition)

The sticky heat of August pressed down on North Cassidy, a muggy embrace that promised nothing but more sweat and the slow, inevitable return to school. My Mustang clanked its familiar protest as I pulled into our usual spot in the student lot, last row, last space, right before the baseball field. Ten minutes late on the third day of senior year—a new record, even for me. Mr. Hoover, the perpetually disapproving hall monitor, was already poised, a yellow slip surely forming in his mind.

I rested my forehead against the steering wheel, the soft buzz of lingering worries filling my head. Psychology homework, my dad's annoying habits, the existential threat to bananas... and then, the thought of Eliza. She was back. And just like that, the mundane anxieties of high school shifted, replaced by a familiar, unsettling hum.

As I forced the creaking car door open, the humid air clung to me like a second skin. My backpack, a leaden weight, seemed determined to hold me back. "It's my backpack's fault," I muttered, knowing full well Mr. Hoover wouldn't buy it. Up ahead, near the back staircase, a cluster of students loitered, their puffs of grassy weed hanging in the air like sad balloons. I held my breath, hurrying past, trying to avoid any tell-tale scent that would send Coach Dad into a month-long frenzy of extra drills.

Just as I reached the top of the grimy stairs, the door burst open, slamming into my shin. "Oops," came the voice, a rosy perfume mingling unpleasantly with the smoke-filled air. Madison Hayes. My on-again, off-again, non-official girlfriend, filling the doorway with her crystal eyes and stick-thin stature, a mischievous glint in her gaze. Just what I needed.