The Imperfect Girl

Prologue

At the edge of the Wright household—a place drenched in high fashion, designer perfumes, and fake smiles—there was a girl no one really cared to notice. 

Adeline Wright, the third in a lineup of flawless sisters. But don't get it twisted—they weren't perfect. Just perfectly skinny, perfectly chic, and perfectly terrifying. 

Ava, 23, already on her way to being the next global "it" girl.
Blair, at 20, had mastered the art of social media stardom, her followers worshipping every post like scripture.
And then there was Cassie, the youngest, a fifteen-year-old prodigy-in-training, whose only real talent seemed to be making Adeline feel dejected,
And then, there was Adeline. At 17, with her knack for being invisible, she was the outlier. 

Her mother, Eleanor, was still clinging to the last threads of her modeling career, though no one had the guts to tell her that the only thing keeping her relevant was her famous last name.
Her father, Richard, the star of a reality show no one watched but everyone pretended to care about, was more interested in his brand than his own kids. 

For her sisters, life was all about beauty. They had a deep conviction that their cheekbones and thigh gaps were enough to carry them through life.
For Adeline, that just meant constant eye-rolls and sarcastic comments no one seemed to hear.
Unlike them, she wasn't born into the family mold. Her figure may have a tiny waist that looked like she'd been starved for weeks but she was curvy- unlike her pencil-figured sister. The mirrors in the mansion constantly whispered her imperfections, echoing the silent judgments of her family.

Even in college, she didn't quite fit. While her sisters were busy ignoring their classes and aiming for a future filled with selfies and magazine covers, Adeline was majoring in Liberal Arts.
Writing, her one true escape from the madness, was something none of them understood. But none of that mattered once she was alone. 

When the house fell silent, and the world didn't expect her to keep up with the Wright family's ridiculous standards, she became someone else. She wasn't Adeline Wright anymore. She was a writer—an anonymous one, but a damn good one. Her latest novel was catching fire online, and the best part? 

No one knew it was her. 

***** 

And then... there was Damon Scott. Every college has a Damon Scott. The guy everyone's heard about, for all the wrong reasons. At 20, he was already a legend—a reputation built on a combination of charm, recklessness, and the occasional fistfight. 

He'd been held back a year for turning a classmate's face into a punching bag in his 2nd year at college, but that didn't seem to slow down his social life. 

Damon had the kind of face that made people swoon, and the kind of attitude that made them regret it later. He was a walking cliché of bad-boy swagger, with a dash of "I'm too hot for you" arrogance. 

And for some reason, he'd decided to set his sights on Adeline. 

But here's the thing about Adeline Wright: she couldn't care less. 

Damon's smirks, his flirty comments, the lazy way he leaned against walls as if gravity didn't apply to him—it was all lost on her. She wasn't interested in becoming another name on his long list of conquests. 

And that... that drove Damon crazy. He wasn't used to being ignored. 

Especially not by a girl like her. 

So, he tried harder, throwing out more charm, more attention, as if his ego needed to prove something. But each time, Adeline responded with the same dry, indifferent wit, making it very clear: 

She wasn't impressed. 

***** 

"You know," he said one day, leaning in a little too close, "most girls don't play this hard to get."

 Adeline didn't even look up from her notebook. "And most guys wouldn't be this determined to embarrass themselves." 

For a second, his grin faltered, but then he laughed. He wasn't sure what it was about Adeline Wright, but for once, a challenge had walked into his life. And Damon Scott didn't back down from challenges. 

*****