Adelaide Beck dared Tristan Presley to become her best friend in the fifth grade... and he said okay. After a summer of doing nearly everything together, Tristan suddenly becomes distant with her. Adelaide had always guessed that natural causes had drifted them apart and that there wasn't much more she could do to stop it. Then years later in their Junior year of high school, Adelaide and Tristan meet again in detention. The time that they're forced to spend with each other bring the two close once again, but this time Tristan's secrets will no longer be kept in the dark, and Adelaide will begin to wonder if the drift in their friendship wasn't so natural after all... !Warning: this story is mildly mature and will contain cussing, violence, and some other mature content! Trope: enemies to besties to strangers to lovers ;) COVER BY: @meha-k Reader reviews: "This was literally the most wholesome book ever... absolutely loved it and finished it in 3 hrs" - RafiaTahrin "so so so great! I enjoyed reading this book so much. Made me happy, sad, laugh, cry, and I just LOVE IT SO MUCH" -NovaWrites00 "This was amazing and I'm smiling at 00:22 rn feeling better than ever" -Lady_fishstick "MY MOM JUST ENTERED MY ROOM AND SHE ASKED ME IF I WAS HUNGRY AND I SCREAMED "NO MOM I'M CRYING GET THE FUCK OUT". I'm grounded for the next freaking week..." -imnotoxic

| a true story about a boy who hides his pain behind his smile and a girl determined to see it | - FREE story with paid Exclusive Chapters and Writer Reveals - Twice Featured - Taylor Ming is trying to cope with the aftermath of her twin brother's suicide, and her depressed mother and avoidant father aren't really helping. With one of her friends' self-harming while another deals with a chronically ill boyfriend, being diagnosed with Diabetes and forced to use insulin thrice a day is Taylor's worst nightmare. When she catches the school's golden boy Shane Gray popping pills in a bathroom, then, Taylor is sure she's in a living hell. Is he depressed? Is he using drugs? She's afraid of losing more people and strikes a deal with Shane. He'll tell her if he ever has the urge to hurt himself and she'll keep his secret. What neither of them knows, however, is that he's already hurting himself without knowing it. And Shane's life is falling apart quicker than Taylor's. Because life isn't black and white and, sometimes, seeing gray can make all the difference. Warning: The story talks about suicide, self-harm, drug use, and mental health problems which may be triggering for some readers.