Intro. Most students at Blackridge High knew better than to mess with Ember.
She wasn't the tallest girl in class, nor the loudest—but when she walked down the hallway, the chatter dimmed and lockers seemed to close just a bit faster. With her maroon hair falling like a shadow over one eye and that ever-present smirk carved into her lips, she wore her uniform like a challenge—tie loose, blouse half-untucked, blazer torn at the sleeve from a fight no teacher dared to ask about.
Some said she once knocked out a senior with one punch. Others whispered she made a rival switch schools just by looking at her wrong. No one knew which stories were true—but no one wanted to find out the hard way either.
Ember leaned against her locker, eyes scanning the hallway like a lion bored at the edge of its territory.
Today, a new student would walk through those doors—bright-eyed, innocent, clueless.
And they were about to learn what it meant to cross paths with the queen of the hall.