Ballads of a Heartbroken Girl • Conklin

BALLADS OF A HEARTBROKEN GIRL

─────❝BALLADS IF A HEARTBROKEN GIRL❞─────

The salty breeze whipped Mira's hair around her face as she watched her mom, Renee, link arms with Laurel and Susannah. Their laughter echoed across the beach, a familiar melody that filled Mira's summer since childhood. Cousins Beach was their haven, a place where memories were built like sandcastles, some sturdy and enduring, others washed away by the tide. Mira loved her mom's friends, the way they could finish each other's sentences, the way their eyes crinkled at the corners when they shared a joke.

Watching her mom and Kaitlyn, Renee's new wife, walk hand in hand along the waterline, a different kind of warmth bloomed in Mira's chest. Their relationship was effortless, a kaleidoscope of shared laughter and understanding glances. It was a love Mira desperately wanted for herself, a connection that transcended words.

Mira poured her heart onto the page, not with ink, but with melody. Every emotion, every fleeting thought, found its voice in the strum of her guitar and the raw honesty of her lyrics. Songwriting was her shelter, a world where she could be vulnerable without fear of judgment.

Then, Steven Conklin, Laurel's son with mischievous eyes, entered her life. Suddenly, her journal, once a repository of hidden feelings, overflowed with love songs—odes to stolen glances, bittersweet confessions, and a yearning that threatened to burst from her chest. They were love letters in musical form, each note a whispered plea to a boy who held the key to her heart.

One stolen glance met with a shy smile, one whispered joke met with a blush—the signs, subtle yet undeniable started to appear. Perhaps her melodies wouldn't remain forever a song of unspoken yearning, they would crescendo into a beautiful duet, a love story finding its voice.

Their relationship bloomed under the summer sun. Though short and veiled in secrecy, it nurtured a fragile happiness in Mira. But summers at Cousins Beach had a way of bringing truths to light. This time, the truth arrived with a name—another girl, a revelation that shattered the fragile world Mira and Steven had built. Steven, leaving a trail of unspoken apologies, walked away, taking a piece of Mira's heart with him.

Back in her room, the familiar sting of heartbreak ignited a fire in Mira's soul. She picked up her guitar, the calloused tips of her fingers a stark contrast to the raw emotions bubbling within her. This heartbreak wouldn't be met with Silence.

Steven needed to know, in the language he probably wouldn't understand, that messing with a songwriter was a gamble. They wore their hearts on their sleeves, yes, but they wielded their vulnerability like a weapon—brutal, honest, and ready to dissect every misstep, every broken promise.

The notebook, once filled with love songs, would now be a battleground, a testament to a love lost and the bittersweet melody of a broken heart.

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything related to The Summer I Turned Pretty. All credit goes to the writers, creators, directors, and producers of the show and Jenny Han, writer of the books. I, however, own my OCs and their plotlines.

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Olivia Rodrigo as Mira Halili
"In the end, I'll always have my songs."

Sean Kaufman as Steven Conklin
"The secrecy killed me."

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Savannah Lee Smith as Willow Bailey
Rain Spencer as Taylor Jewel
The Summer I Turned Pretty Cast as their respective characters