Laura Jason was still complaining about Anne saying that she didn't actually love her boyfriend because she didn't want to have this intimate moment with him, so I was a little confused by that. He and I were still in bed, talking about our kids, and the day had barely started, really. “Do you rea
Anne I was in front of the mirror while sitting at my makeup table while, all concentrated, I tried to get my eyeliner over my eye, but my younger brother's annoying voice threw me off when he suddenly entered my closet, shouting and calling my attention. I ended up with a black streak of mascara o
Anne Since the boys were already mad at me, one of them no longer responded to the things I said when I tried to communicate with him, and the other was trying his best to make me feel stressed, tapping his foot behind my seat over and over again and making me feel uncomfortable, calling me a spoil
Anne “I want to break up with you, Caleb.” When those words finally left my mouth, I almost couldn't believe it. I had been wanting to say it for so long that I was actually thinking that now it was another one of the times I imagined myself saying that. But this time, it was really real. I could
Anne When I got back to the car and looked in the rearview mirror as I drove toward my school's entrance, I could see Caleb with his hand on his head and his shoulders slumped, looking sad about what had just happened. I sighed resignedly and decided to look ahead and get on with my life, it was th
Anne I decided to ignore everything I was thinking and just focus on my schedules. I was by far the best student in my class; I was always dedicated and hardworking, and I was never the subject of a complaint. The teachers loved me because I was so exemplary for all the other students, which is why
Anne When the teacher left after the class was over, the students in the classroom started to make the usual noise when they talk to each other. I still couldn't believe that the boy sitting behind me was actually Peter Morton, so I turned to him since I already had something to talk about, which w
Anne It all started when I was 11 years old and Peter Morton wanted to kill his stepdad. “Does your Dad have a gun?” He asked when he and I were hiding in the ceiling of the ballroom where Uncle Jake's and his mom's wedding was taking place. "What?" For a moment, I thought I hadn't heard correctl
“Why do you keep hanging out with them, Abby?” he asked, and now there was a note of concern that annoyed me even more. “You know Madison’s not good for you. She uses you, and you let her.” “It’s none of your business,” I shot back, my voice sharp. “I do what I want, Caleb. Bye.” I hung up before h
Abby POV It was a lazy Sunday, and I was at the mall’s food court, waiting at the counter to pick up snacks for myself and the “new friends” I’d managed to latch onto. The smell of grease and cheap coffee filled the air, and the hum of conversations mixed with the muffled pop music from the speaker
Caleb, Abby, Madison, Nadia—they all spun through my head like a broken carousel. I wanted to tell my parents everything, collapse and ask for help, but the thought of seeing disappointment in their eyes—or worse, them trying to intervene at Oxwell to “save” me—made me swallow the words. I had to fi
Annie POV It was the weekend, and I was at home, trying to take deep breaths and pretend everything was okay. The Oxwell campus was a few hours away, giving me temporary relief from the chaos my life had become. Here, with my parents and the twins, I could at least try to be the old Annie—the exc
Max POV Walking beside someone who’d once meant so much to me felt strange. I couldn’t stop thinking that our breakup had been a waste, couldn’t stop remembering how happy I’d been with this guy, only to ruin it all because of my ego, because of a toxic fixation I had on Albert. Conrad Adams walke
Max POV was stunned when Albert told me that, my mouth even went dry because I wasn’t expecting to hear it. Conrad Adams was back. He was my boyfriend in my early twenties. I met him through Albert, who was close friends with him during the dark days of his family’s company. Conrad was a good guy
Max POV I was driving through the city with the radio on low, just a background murmur to keep the silence from swallowing me whole, when my phone buzzed on the dashboard. Zoey. Of course it was her. The girl had already wormed her way into my house like a high-heeled parasite, and now, apparently,
Annie POV After the moment at the mall, I returned to the dorm with a tight chest, carrying the bags with the blue dress Summer had insisted I buy. The plan was to distract myself, but Madison’s words—“racist,” “canceled piece of trash”—spun in my head like a broken record, mingling with Nadia’s re
When I met her last week at a council meeting, I could tell she’d be a challenge—confident, charismatic, the type who knew how to play the game. “Ugh, Madison Goodwin is here too. What a rotten day,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. Of course Abby would get close to Madison—she was her adopted cousin.