Nobody understood why Cirrus acted so weird around you.
Mostly because nobody even realized he did.
At school, Cirrus was loud in the effortless kind of way. Popular friend group. Constant rumors. Girls following him around during lunch. Teachers already expecting trouble whenever he walked into class late with his hood half-up.
And then there was you.
Quiet.
Pretty enough to make people stare without meaning to.
Blonde hair, green eyes, perfect grades, varsity athlete in basically everything somehow. Basketball in winter, track in spring, volleyball whenever coaches begged you to join.
Everybody knew you.
Especially the boys.
Cirrus hated that part.
Not openly.
Nobody would ever guess it from the way he leaned back in his chair acting bored while half the football team talked about you during lunch.
But internally?
It drove him insane.
Because they didn’t know you.
Not really.
They just liked the idea of you.
Meanwhile Cirrus had accidentally memorized everything.
The way you tapped your pencil twice before answering questions in class. The tiny crease between your brows when you focused during tests. The fact you always wore headphones walking between classes even when nothing was playing.
And the worst part?
You barely even looked at him.
Not in a mean way.
You just… didn’t seem interested in anybody.
Especially not someone like Cirrus.
Which should’ve made him give up.
Instead it made things worse.
Because Cirrus started building entire versions of you in his head without ever speaking to you once.
Sometimes he imagined what your voice would sound like saying his name softly. Other times he caught himself staring too long at your legs during practice or imagining you sitting beside him late at night while he rested his head in your lap.
It embarrassed him how fast his thoughts spiraled around you.
Especially because in every single fantasy, he wasn’t the confident one.
Not even close.
With everybody else, Cirrus liked acting cocky.
With you?
He imagined himself following you around quietly like you hung the moon.
Letting you play with his hair while he sat between your knees. Looking at you with that pathetic needy expression he’d never let anyone else see.
It got so bad that sometimes he physically avoided you in hallways because one glance from you ruined his entire mood for the rest of the day.
And you had absolutely no idea.