NOW PUBLISHED BY SOURCEBOOKS FIRE! Sixteen-year-old Jackie Howard knows nothing about her new guardian Katherine Walter when she moves from New York to Colorado. After discovering that Katherine has twelve boys, Jackie fears that living in the Walter house isn't going to be easy. It's just icing on the cake that the boys look like models... Cover design by pizzazz-

In which Kiara Bergmann meets a German boy who should've been buried over two hundred years ago. [Extended summary inside] #22 Short Story #115 Humor

A dialogue short story about the things we wake up to that remind us there are still things in this life worth waking up for. ante meridiem - [adv. & adj.] "before noon;" Abbr: A.M. Or a.m. [credit to owner of image (not me)]

In which a fortune cookie saves a blind date going down faster than a roller coaster after a steep climb.

Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."

Cora Montgomery and Theodore Hayes have just been hitched...by accident. Not remembering much about the night before, they arrive back to school as a married couple, and they are just about to murder each other at any second of the day. Seeing that it would take a whole lot of issues to divorce, they'll have to stick it out until graduation. And since neither of them are interested in being good, it's going to be one hell of a marriage. W A R N I N G : may contain suggestive material...lol

Stereotypes. I hate them. On my first day at my new school, a girl in a blue and white cheerleader's uniform told me I 'looked like a cheerleader' and asked me to come to tryouts. I almost decked her. Blonde hair and blue eyes do not a cheerleader make. Cheerleaders can be bitchy and mean but they can also act all happy and excited and they can drool and swoon over Finn Wallace – the hands-down hottest guy in school – like there's no tomorrow. Me? Well, I'm just bitchy and mean. So someone please tell me why Finn Wallace is suddenly chasing after me? *This is NOT a Bridgit Mendler fan fiction* Copyright © 2013 CrayonChomper

"I want to grow up" Did you say it when you were a kid? I know I did. Have you regretted growing up at some point in your life? Have you wished you could be a careless child once again? I know you have. Everyone has. The more you grow the bigger the challenges, the obstacles, the pain. Life gets serious. You get serious. You forget to smile at the morning sun shining down your face. You are too absorved by your problems to notice the beautiful world surrounding you. And when life gets hard, you wish more than anything to turn back in time and be that small child who did not know anything when he said "I want to grow up"

Picture this: You enter the mall with your friends. As you're making your way to buy a strawberry smoothie, you notice something more delicious walking right towards you. As he comes closer, he gives you a heart stopping smirk then takes you by surprise. He pulls you into a headlock, jabs a gun in your temple, then runs away with you. As I uncover why this mysterious model kidnapped me, I find myself tackling, punching, hugging, and watching Disney movies with him. Call me reckless, but something about this troubled kidnapper is quite intriguing yet heartbreaking. Find out if I, Skylar Scrowbar, end up dead in a ditch somewhere, or end up helplessly falling in love with my sexy kidnapper.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you? The opposite of love isn't hate. It's indifference."