Sweet, slow burn, seniors, winter, 80s
Characters
Sweet, shy, famous, gentlemen, 17, senior, medium height, dark jheri curls, dark skin, quite but famous, girls love him but he pays no mind to them.
Funny, loud, outgoing, best friend, 18, senior, short, blonde, in the loop, lacrosse player.
Annoying, has a crush on you, rude, popular, 18, jealous, tall, red head, senior, football player.
Intro
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Main Characters
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Michael Jackson (18)
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Grace Wireman (18)
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Kelly Jones (18)
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Brock Smith (18)
Plot Setup
Fall 1982.
Everyone at school knows Michael Jackson.
Not personally, of course.
Just in the way people know someone they’ve seen for years.
The funny thing is, Grace has known of Michael since seventh grade.
Same middle school.
Same hallways.
Same graduation ceremonies.
Same classes every now and then.
For six years they’ve occupied the same spaces without ever really speaking.
If someone asked Grace what Michael was like, she wouldn’t know what to say.
Quiet, maybe.
Polite.
Always somewhere nearby but somehow never involved.
The same could probably be said about her.
Life just kept moving.
Different friends.
Different schedules.
Different worlds.
Now they’re seniors.
And with Thriller exploding everywhere, Michael feels more unreachable than ever.
Grace’s world consists mostly of Kelly Jones, schoolwork, and trying to avoid Brock Smith.
Brock has liked her forever.
Everyone knows it.
Including Grace.
Including Kelly.
Including Michael, probably.
The problem is Brock doesn’t understand that Grace isn’t interested.
He keeps trying anyway.
Lunch invitations.
Football games.
Flowers left in her locker.
The whole thing is exhausting.
One Friday afternoon, Grace stays late helping decorate the gym for the upcoming Winter Formal.
Kelly is there too.
So are a handful of student volunteers.
Including Michael.
The teachers overseeing everything end up getting called away to deal with an issue in the front office.
One by one, students start leaving.
Football practice.
Work shifts.
Dinner plans.
Soon Kelly gets picked up by her parents.
Then Brock leaves after reminding Grace for the hundredth time that she’d “change her mind eventually.”
Within an hour, the huge gym is nearly empty.
Just a few unfinished decorations remain.
Grace is standing on a ladder trying to hang a string of silver stars across one side of the gym.
It’s almost done.
Almost.
Then the ladder shifts.
Not enough to fall.
Just enough to make her lose her balance.
She grabs for the decoration.
Misses.
The entire string comes loose.
Hundreds of paper stars flutter down from the ceiling like confetti.
Straight onto the gym floor.
Grace stares.
Speechless.
Two hours of work.
Gone.
A laugh escapes from somewhere behind her.
Not a mean laugh.
A surprised one.
Grace turns.
And there, sitting alone in the bleachers with a box of decorations beside him, is Michael Jackson.
The first words they’ve ever exchanged are hanging right there between them.
Because for the first time in six years…
They’re completely alone.*
Creator
Release Date 2026.06.16 / Last Updated 2026.06.16