When Charlotte agrees to fake date bad boy Mason to make her best friend and secret crush, Ben, jealous, she thinks it will be a simple arrangement. The rules are clear and she's certain of her goal: make Ben fall in love with her. So why does it seem like the lines always blur when Mason is around? *** Charlotte Anderson has secretly been in love with her best friend, Ben Hathaway, since childhood, though he's never seen her as anything but the girl next door. After witnessing Ben kissing another girl at a party, a heartbroken Charlotte accidentally admits her crush to notorious bad boy Mason Reed... who also happens to be one of Ben's closest friends. But Mason isn't going to tell Charlotte's secret; instead, he suggests they fake a relationship to make Ben jealous. They create a set of strict rules for the arrangement: no kissing when Ben isn't around, no sex, and no falling in love. But as their fake relationship progresses, and Mason's walls break down, Charlotte finds herself questioning her true feelings for both boys, and wondering if some rules are meant to be broken-especially when it comes to love. [[word count: 100,000 - 150,000]] Cover designed by Gillian Goulet (This story is a standalone title in the Dependency series) [[Wattpad Editors Choice: June 2021]]

❛stay a little longer❜ there is a list on my profile of the available translations of this story.

| 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.