LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 001 ******* Dear Diary, Scratch that. Dear Journal? Well, you’re sort of pink, handmade and gotten from the roadside stall of a little girl working on some class project so maybe you're really a diary. However, I am going to pretend this is a journal and this is the begi
*Dancing*–failed! *Painting*–failed! *Drawing*–failed…partially. No drawing of clothing designs, Leslie. Just no. *Yoga*–failed! *Crocheting*–failed! Failed! Failed! Failed! Might as well be the poster girl for failure. *Sightseeing*–success! It’s fun going on tours but my purse doesn’t exac
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 002 ******* Thinking about designing again was a spontaneous decision. I am not sure I have what it takes to start from scratch or to even succeed. So, I’m ruling it off as one of those new year resolutions that you never get around to doing. My savings is dwindling. I h
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 003******It’s been exactly a year since I left my old life behind. It hits hard because today is the very day I walked away and didn’t look back. I thought I’d finally moved on. I thought I finally found myself but I guess finding a part of me doesn’t mean I entirely lose
LESLIE’S JOURNAL ENTRIES 004*******Just when I thought Cole has given up on the idea of ‘investing’ in me, he starts to hover around me again. I run into him a lot these days. At the mall, at convenience stores, at the hallway and even when dumping garbage. I have a feeling those meetings aren’t c
Trent and I had a talk while everyone else was busy listening to Cole’s adventurous stories. He bought me a drawing book and some colored pencils for my designs. I think I teared up a little as I took the gifts from me. He wanted to take me for changing their lives. He’d been worried he would have
LESLIE’S POV*THREE YEARS LATER*(Note: The three year period covers the events contained in Leslie’s journal and a little after that. Or you can look at it this way: the next events that are about to happen starting from this chapter are three years after she decided to leave her old life behind.)
LESLIE'S POVI open the door and Cole stands there, a smug look on his face. “Cole? What are you doing here?” Cole ignores my question and steps close to me with barely an inch separating us and then he smirks. “I knew it! Your eyes are red and puffy. You cried!” I scowl at his childish antics,
CHAPTER 99 ~SOPHIE~ The moment Sebastian disappeared down the street, a crushing silence fell over me, broken only by the unsteady rhythm of my breathing. My fingers twitched at my sides, my entire body locked in place as if moving would make the moment real, as if accepting that he had been
CHAPTER 98 ~SOPHIE~ In between the endless nightmares that were triggered by the events of the past week and waiting for Travis to reach out to me again, I had been pushed to the edge of insanity. I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but it did. It got worse. And now I was bolting out
CHAPTER 97 ~JUSTIN~ I’ve never been anyone’s first choice. Never. No matter how hard I tried, Jac always had the spotlight. He was the golden boy, the prodigy, the one with all the medals and accolades. Meanwhile, I was the kid bringing home crayon sketches and piano recitals that no one car
CHAPTER 96 ~SOPHIE~ There were many questions; like how on earth she was in a place that was at least an hour's drive from her family’s mansion, and why she was chugging down cheap beer when I have only ever seen her enjoy the finest wine. The longer we stood there, wordlessly staring at ea
CHAPTER 95 [ Punching Bag ] ~ELAINE~ (6) The moment I slipped through the gates and caught sight of my father’s car parked neatly in the driveway, dread curled deep in the pit of my stomach. I stopped dead in my tracks, my pulse quickening. They were home. They were never supposed to be hom
CHAPTER 94 [ The One Who Needs Saving ] ~SOPHIE~ I didn’t even blink when the words fell out of Justin’s mouth like he'd been holding them in for years. I just sat there, watching him like he had told me the most obvious thing in the world. If I felt remotely surprised, it was simply because I
CHAPTER 93 [ I’m Gay ] ~SOPHIE~ My scream echoed down the street, loud enough to wake the dead or at least give someone a mild heart attack. But the hand gripping my shoulder was barely even settled before instinct took over. I spun around, grabbing the wrist tightly and twisting it with all the
CHAPTER 92 [ Little Contradictions ] ~SOPHIE~ The faint neon lights from the cinema flickered on and off as I stood by the curb, watching the stream of people moving in and out of the building. I couldn’t remember the last time I watched a movie—couldn’t even remember the last time I did somethi
CHAPTER 91 [ The Man I thought I knew ] ~SOPHIE~ He said no. I never imagined that would be his answer. I sat there, stunned into silence, blinking at him like I hadn't heard him right. His fingers were still wrapped around my wrist, firm and unyielding as if he could anchor me to him by sheer