You Are Mine (Jane Pecky)

old textbooks and cheap cafeteria coffee clung to the air. Alexander "Lex" Thompson leaned against the doorway of his classroom, his sharp

for influence and dominance. Teaching wasn't just a job to him-it was

ces between secret crushes, and the subtle shifts in teenage friendsh

yet strong in ways most people never noticed. Lex saw the loneliness in her posture, the way her shoulders hunched as i

the will to fight for attention. Her mother was busy rebuilding a life, her father distant and cold. Even her friends seemed li

uncing an upcoming competition. Lex watched her from his classroom window, pretending to sort through pa

into something darker when left unchecked. Lex knew every excuse to linger near her photography club events. He'd justified driving th

r daily routine like an unwelcome guest. At first, she dismissed it as paranoia, a symptom of her overactive imagination. B

ng Sophia out of her thoughts, she hurried to her next

a professional

himself it was harmless-just concern for a troubled student. Yet the gna

until it had taken root. And now it was suffocating him. Lex knew he had to

ark. She needed a distraction from the chaos in her mind. Her feet carried her to the quiet paths wher

den leaves scattered on the path that s

ot," a v

ding a few feet away, hands in his pockets. H

ng the camera. "I didn't k

moothly. "Sometimes you need to

lone they were. The park was quiet, wi

nto photography," Lex sai

a hobby," s

e seen some of your wor

crept up her c

moment before Sophia cleared her t

forced a smile. "Of course.

l path. Lex watched her go, his heart pounding. He knew he was playin

iable. And that was th

ood frozen in place. The darkness within him wh