book 1 ✔︎
book 2 ✔︎
book 3 ✔︎
PART OF ME - you become so emotionally close to someone that you feel like they are literally a part of you, like a half of your heart. You don't want to live without them - you can't.
Aviana Ember wouldn't know this fe...
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Whether or not I want to be here, I'm sitting across from Nicole in her living room, brainstorming a list of things we could do to 'take Tanner down'. The blonde girl, who I'm beginning to like more and more, though I'd rather not admit it, is plopped crosslegged beside her coffee table writing down ideas on a page.
She keeps looking up at me for suggestions, but in all honesty, I'm really uncomfortable thinking about reporting the boy I so easily trusted, so easily defended, even though I knew deep down that what Axel said he was doing to me was true.
I wish I could go back and undo it all. I wish I could have just skipped over Tanner and realized that I liked Axel the moment he walked into my homeroom. I wish I would have introduced myself, asked him for his number. I wish he would have asked me out on a date and we'd instantly be in a relationship, and Tanner would never have been in my life.
But then again, this is Axel we're talking about. Axel isn't that simple. His life isn't that simple.
"We could tape all of the accusations and send them to the police department," I suggest when Nicole glances up at me for the hundredth time as I sit awkwardly against her soft, tanned sofa drinking a chai tea she so kindly made me.
Nicole scrunches her nose at my idea instantly, probably thinking about the last time she tried to videotape something, but then her expression softens.
"It's raw, it's real, and if there's multiple of them, the police have to at least look into it!" She raises her brows, looking at me to interrupt her.
I only nod. "Right. So we're good?"
She sighs, setting down her pencil. "Now all we need to do is make sure everyone feels comfortable telling their story," she scratches her, and adds, "we don't know for sure who experienced what, but we're going to follow the rumours and see what we can do. You play a huge part in this."
"How so?"
"You're going to be the one to approach each girl," Nicole nods, pressing her lips together.
I bite at mine anxiously, sitting forward on the couch. "What do I say?"
Nicole crawls over to sit at my feet, taking my mug and placing it on the table so that she can hold my hands. She gazes up at me with big, hazel eyes, and squeezes my hands. "You know who Tanner is," she affirms, grazing her thumb over the back of my hand, making sure I stay calm. She's so much like Axel, obviously because she's spent so much time with him, that it's so hard to find that fine line between loving and hating her. "You know what he did to you. If you can reach the other girls, tell them that you know where they've been, show them that there are people who support them, we can put that motherfucker away."
