LOVING A DAMMED HIGH SCHOOL

CHAPTER 1: FIRST DAY FIASCO

Jordan slammed her backpack onto the hallway floor with the kind of frustration only a senior on the first day of school could muster. Crestwood High was chaos incarnate. Lockers were jammed, students were screaming across hallways like stadium announcers, and a mysterious smell of burnt cafeteria food lingered in the air.

“First day, first disaster,” she muttered, dodging a flying paper airplane that hit the wall beside her.

“Watch out!” someone yelled. A freshman shrieked as they collided with a mountain of textbooks.

Jordan sighed. She’d survived Crestwood High before, but each year it felt like stepping into a new level of madness.

Then she saw him.

A tall, slightly disheveled boy leaning against a locker, headphones around his neck, a smirk that made it obvious he didn’t care about any of the chaos. He was flipping a coin casually while dodging the textbook avalanche like it was a slow-motion movie.

Jordan blinked. “Who… is that?”

The boy looked up, eyes meeting hers, and for a split second, the hallway noise faded. “Ethan,” he said simply, tossing the coin into the air and catching it. “New here. And you are?”

“Jordan,” she replied, unsure whether to be impressed or annoyed.

“Crestwood’s… a bit of a mess, huh?” Ethan said, gesturing broadly to the hall.

“You have no idea,” Jordan muttered. A flying binder hit the floor near her feet. She jumped back, but Ethan caught it midair with a grin. “Here, first lesson: survival skills.”

Jordan stared. “You caught that… without even trying?”

Ethan shrugged. “I try.” Then he winked.

Just then, the bell rang—an absurdly loud clang that sounded more like a gong than a school bell. Students surged into classrooms, bumping into each other. Jordan tried to follow but got shoved by a group of freshmen, landing directly on her rear.

“Smooth move, rookie!” Ethan called from the hallway.

Jordan groaned, dusting herself off. Somehow, she knew this year was going to be… interesting.

By the end of the first period, Jordan had already:

Been nearly hit by a flying textbook twice.

Survived a cafeteria food fight pre-lunch (apparently, it was tradition).

Accidentally became part of a rumor about cheating on a pop quiz.

And yet, through it all, she couldn’t stop thinking about the boy who caught her binder. Ethan.

Because in a school as damned as Crestwood High, maybe the only way to survive… was to find someone equally unbothered by the chaos.