Sage Rose Parker, a seventeen almost eighteen year old girl getting ready for college with her two friends.
Having the world on her shoulders and her past in her mind she's down to break.
An alcoholic as a mother and an abusive father in jail didn'...
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Things I Never Say Out Loud ================================= I laugh like I'm whole with a mouth full of splinters, and no one stops to ask why I flinch when I smile.
I say I'm fine because it's easier than naming the things I don't know how to survive.
My reflection lies better than I do. She looks steady— like she isn't choking on the noise in her head.
But at night, when the lights are off and I forget how to be brave, I wish someone would notice. I wish someone would stay. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My skull feels like it's trying to crack open from the inside out.
The first thing I register is the pounding behind my eyes, each throb syncing perfectly with the sunlight slicing through the blinds. The second is my mouth—dry as hell, like I swallowed a desert in my sleep. The third? A groan I don't even realize is mine.
"Get up."
Something hits my leg—probably a pillow. Maybe Jade's wrath. I roll over with a whimper, dragging the blanket over my face like it can shield me from the consequences of my actions.
"No," I croak, voice rough and barely there. "I'm dying. Let me die."
"You're not dying," Jade says flatly. "You're hungover. That's what happens when you get wasted and pass out in an alley."
Ugh. Right. That happened.
Bits and pieces start clicking into place. The party. The drinks. The spinning. Ezra.
God. Ezra.
I groan again and yank the covers tighter. "What time is it?"
"Time for school. You've got, like, twenty minutes before we're late."
"School should be illegal," I mumble.
There's a beat of silence before Jade rips the covers off me entirely. The cold air hits like a slap, and I hiss.
"Up. Now. I let you sleep in, but if we're late, I'm blaming you."
"I hate you," I mutter, but I'm already swinging my legs over the edge of the bed like some half-dead gremlin crawling out of its crypt. My stomach lurches the second I sit up. "Ugh. I'm gonna throw up."
"There's ginger ale in the fridge and painkillers on the counter," Jade says, tossing me one of her oversized hoodies. "You're welcome."
I clutch it like a lifeline. "You're still a bitch."
"And yet, I saved your drunk ass."
I grunt, dragging myself to my feet and wobbling toward the bathroom like a zombie with unfinished business. The light in the bathroom is way too bright.
