VixenFlux
Chase Holloway wanted one normal first day at Harborfield Senior Academy.
New classes. New people. No emotional landmines.
Then Riley Knox crashes into his life with rolled-up sleeves, a crooked tie, a sports bag over one shoulder, and the kind of grin that looks suspiciously like a threat.
To Chase, Riley is instantly familiar.
Loud. Athletic. Competitive. Annoying in a way that feels weirdly easy to like.
Basically bro material.
To Riley, Chase is not new at all.
He is the boy from her childhood. The one who ran with her, fought beside her, protected her, laughed with her, and somehow filed her away in his memory as a boy.
Years later, he meets her again.
He does not recognize her.
And somehow, because Riley is still Riley, he makes the exact same mistake all over again.
Riley could simply tell him the truth.
Unfortunately, that would require emotional honesty, and Riley would rather lose a boxing match to a vending machine.
So begins a very loud, very stupid romantic disaster: Riley tries to flirt, Chase translates everything into friendship, her best friend suffers in real time, his best friend makes it worse, and everyone at Harborfield starts noticing what Chase refuses to see.
Riley does not need to become softer, sweeter, or more "girly" to count as a girl.
Chase just needs to learn how to look properly.