First day at Lakeside High — noise, chaos, and a storm waiting to break. Then she appeared. Asia. Grey eyes, calm fire. I hit a self alley-oop, 360 windmill, the gym exploding. She saw it — saw me. Her smile said trouble; her voice, curiosity. “You just out here embarrassing people?” she teased. “Ball slipped,” I said. But it wasn’t the dunk that shook me — it was her. The way her eyes caught mine, like thunder meeting silence. Some storms don’t start with rain… they start with a look.