{Free story 1 paid bonus chapter} Virginia hates her school's basketball superstar, but Eli Shepherd is hoping to change that, one basket at a time. *** Virginia takes a job at her college's basketball gym where worlds collide and attraction runs wild between her and the school's captain of the basketball team- NBA Draft hopeful Eli Shepherd. Trying to keep her father's celebrity status as a retired basketball legend is a hard secret to keep, especially when her dad invites Eli over to train him- at her house. While deadly secrets threaten to tear apart the only family she has left, Virginia must search for answers while guarding her heart against the greatest threat it has ever faced- Eli Shepherd. 🚨COMPLETED🚨 *This story is FREE but there is one Paid bonus chapter! WARNING: Mature scenes and themes. Read at your own risk.

Nolan, an unapproachable guy who ignores the existence of all his schoolmates, sleeps in all of his classes. Normally, this wouldn't be Chelsea Arnold's problem-she does her best to pay attention in class and attends gym like a good, normal student. Unfortunately, she just so happens to be his assigned desk partner in many classes. She's frequently forced to wake him in English class and ends up earning the unofficial title of Nolan's Wake-up Alarm-a title that nobody in the entire school covets. The last thing she wants is to interact with him more than she absolutely has to. One day, their gym teacher sends her to bring him back to class, which he always skips for some reason. When she accidentally shines her flashlight in his sleeping face, it triggers a chain of events that gradually intertwines their lives together. It's hard to be a normal student when you start befriending the school oddball. It doesn't help that he has more secrets than the Big Ben has stairs. ----- Complete. (first person, past tense, slowburn) ----- 1st place in Humor Category of Psychological Novel Reads Contest 2020 (29 Sep 2020) ----- Started: April 28, 2020 Completed: July 23, 2021 Word Count: 160K+ ----- The sequel, The Tortoise and His Sunrise, is up on my profile now!