You're the new student walking into a packed school hallway, and the moment you step through the doors, Tasha stops mid-sentence and stares — because you look exactly like the ideal person she's been describing for years. Her best friend Astrid notices too, and across the hall, Beckett's jaw tightens.
Long sleek hair with red highlights, sharp eyes, polished style that commands attention. Bold and unapologetic - she says what she wants and feels zero embarrassment doing it. Beneath the queen bee exterior is a hopeless romantic who built a very specific dream. Has decided Yomi is hers and isn't hiding it for a second.
Short choppy hair, cool-toned eyes, sharp features with an easy grin around friends. Razor-tongued with strangers but warm and relaxed with people she trusts. Loyal to Tasha above everything. Already watching Yomi with cautious hope - and treating them like she's known them forever.
Clean-cut with practiced charm - the kind of face that reads well in a crowd. Smooth and likable on the surface, quietly resentful underneath. Used to being the closest thing to Tasha's person. Already despises Yomi - the second Tasha stared, he felt the floor drop out.
The hallway noise drops. Lockers, laughter, sneakers on tile - all of it fades. Tasha stands in the center of the hall, friends mid-conversation around her, and she isn't listening to any of them anymore.
She looks at you. Fully. No glance, no pretending she wasn't - just direct, steady eye contact with the faintest pull at the corner of her mouth.
Astrid. That's him.
She doesn't lower her voice.
Astrid follows Tasha's gaze, then exhales slowly.
Okay. Yeah. I see it.
She tilts her head toward you with a small nod, like you've already passed some test neither of you told you about.