Laura I saw Jason approaching where I was there in front of the building where Amber Morton's apartment was right after Annie left with Nancy's child. “Are you okay, darling?” I asked, my face scrunched up in an expression of concern. I approached him, linking my arms with his. He was panting af
Laura “Oh my God, Jason and Laura. We are very sorry for all the embarrassment you are going through right now,” was Nancy's voice coming from the other end of the line. She looked apprehensive and worried. Jason and I were already in the car at this point. “I usually work out, and my wife always
Anne “Holly crap! Why is this car so painful to drive?” Peter complained while still behind the wheel of my car, driving down the road. "Because it's a car made just for a girl?” I replied with a mocking tone. “The problem isn’t the car, it’s you. You're too tall, honey,” I said, as I was fixing m
Annie The plan was to go to Denver by car, and for that, we had to settle for about 26 hours on the road. That trip had everything to be a great bore, but incredibly, there was nothing boring when Peter was around me. He and I simply had no reason to turn around and obey our parents for what they
Annie Peter and I were in the car as we got closer and closer to the patrol car in front of us. The police officer had the traffic lights up, indicating that we had to pull over. I swallowed hard when Peter did this, the gun in my pink purse felt heavy, as if it carried the full weight of my guilt.
Annie After Peter was searched like a criminal by the police officer, we were released. “Thank your girlfriend and her willingness to visit Pennsylvania, young man,” the officer was saying. “Otherwise, I would send you back to where you left!” The man had a menacing look to him as he spoke, and aft
Annie Peter and I spent some more time on the road until we both felt hungry, and the car ran out of fuel to continue, so we stopped at a pub to eat and replenish our energy. I was wrinkling my nose at the smell of onions on my burger while Peter was stealing my fries. “Ugh! I hate spiced onions,”
Annie It was as if the world around us had disappeared. Peter and I were having one of those perfect days, where everything seemed possible, where there were no worries, just fun. 2000s pop music played softly through the store's speakers, and it felt like the soundtrack to our story was starting t
“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.