[ COMPLETED ] Sports series #1: Dreams of Youth Note: This is the first installment of the Sports Series. You can read this story as a standalone novel. Also, this story is written in taglish. ----- "Some dreams are chased under the sun. Others bloom quietly in the shadows." For Freya Allison Varquez, life is a scoreboard and she must always come out on top. Whether it's in academics or volleyball, she lives to be the best. All she wants is her parents' approval---the kind that only victory seems to bring. But when Kazimir Trevor Lionhart transfers to their school, her perfect world begins to crack. He's confident, calm under pressure, and her equal in every way. Their fiery rivalry soon turns into something more complicated... and far more dangerous to her walls. As for Isaiah Mason Varquez, being second-best has always been his role, especially when you're the twin of someone like Freya. He hides behind his facade, burdened by unspoken expectations and childhood scars. Until Rhea Melanie De Leon enters his life---the only person who sees through him, even if he once made her life hell. She's calm where he's chaos and maybe, just maybe, the reason he'll start chasing something of his own. In a world of rivals, spotlights, and secrets, four teens will come to realize that some dreams aren't about winning... but about finally being seen.

She watches the sky because it never asks anything of her. But when he starts looking at her the same way - gently, from afar - Mia Vennessa Florentine's carefully built world begins to shift. A perfectionist and dream-chaser, Mia transfers to a new school for her final year of senior high, carrying the pressure of her goals and the weight of unspoken worries. Love isn't on her list - until Hadrian Corven Ashvale, another transfer student with a quiet past and unreadable eyes, enters her life. Inspired by the author's own experiences, Beneath the Clouds is a slow-burn, soft-pain love story about two people who weren't supposed to matter to each other... but somehow do. As Mia tries to balance high expectations, family tension, and her own self-doubt, her feelings grow - quietly, patiently - like the clouds she never expected to fall for. Will she let herself feel what she's been avoiding... or will she keep watching from a distance, afraid of the storm inside her?

In the small town of Isla Vista, a reckless and entitled city kid named Andres Vallejo caused a scandal that nearly damaged his family's reputation, taking him out to the one place they felt would keep him out of the public eye: the family-owned Isla Vista Hotel. His reckless acts almost cost the probinsyana girl named Consuela Garcia her scholarship and the future she had fought so hard for. Bitter and unhappy, she fled the city during the summer when her parents urged her to return to Isla Vista where she grew up. It was intended to be her safe haven, a place where she could recover from the scars left behind. But what if fate brings them together once again? As Andres is forced to confront the consequences of his actions, while Consuela, with the weight of the past still heavy on her shoulders, must decide if she can ever forgive the one who almost ruined her dreams. Written by: @collapsedstarr