An anthology // beautiful cover by @labyrinth- *Short Story #158 (27 July 2017) Short Story #166 (26 July 2017) Short Story #168 (25 July 2017) Short Story #170 (23 July 2017)

"I'm distracted from the boy I've bumped into when the world around me begins to change. The grey and white I've seen ever since I was born into this world slowly begin to bleed away, like rain drops sliding down a car window, being replaced with bright, bright pigments. They cover everything, bring to life the world around me. The gravel underneath my feet is no longer a dull grey, the sky is no longer white, the bricks of the buildings no longer black. They're different, beautiful, bright, extraordinary, breathtaking. Colors, I realize. These are colors." x Natalie Grayson has lived her whole life in black and white. She's been waiting to meet her other half- her soulmate- who will make both of their worlds burst in color. It's what she's been dreaming of ever since she was little. She wants to know what color is, how it feels, what it looks like, if it's really as amazing as everyone claims it to be. On her seventeenth birthday, while walking back home through a sketchy part of town, she bumps into a stranger. Before she can even apologize, the last thing she expected happens: the black and white of her world begins to bleed away and is replaced with something else. Colors. When she looks up, Natalie isn't expecting to lock eyes with a rebel. But she does. She also doesn't expect him to run away. But he does.

For Jessalyn and her mom, moving to the small town of Avondale, California seemed like the perfect decision; they wanted the new scenery but what they really needed was a new start. Jessalyn Hartley had always been shy and one to keep to herself, but now, as she enters her final year of high school at Crestview High, she's more determined than ever to stay hidden in the shadows. However, all of that may change when she crosses paths with the supposed bad boy; Cason Michaels, and figures out that maybe she just had to meet the right person to break her out of her shell.

Emilie Grey found her boyfriend Conner Hanglinton cheating on her after two years of dating. She's crushed but of course with the help of her crazy best friend she is going to move on. To bad, she didn't know just exactly how her best friend was going to help her until it was to late. Now she has the school's bad-ass not leaving her alone and even crazier than that are his bad boy kisses....

Self-proclaimed weirdo April Hale and the notorious troublemaker Ryder Black have been living side by side for more than ten years. Both never attempted to communicate with each other, but on the night Ryder Black is thrown out by his own father, he asks her a question that might change both of their lives: "March, will you let me stay in your room?" He even got her name wrong. - A coming of age story about loss, the wonders of falling in love, and ultimately, pretending to be normal. Get inside April's distorted and yet humorous perspective, and watch as her tale unfolds into a shocking finish. COVER BY @RIVIIX

Willow Maverick has a secret. A secret that she wishes she didn’t have to keep. But he’s changed her forever, leaving her with the constant reminders of everything she’s ever done wrong. Even if she tried, no one could begin to understand what’s happened. But the new boy who sits behind her in class is too persistent to let her go down without a fight, no matter what it takes. Even if she’s permanently torn apart.

Emma van der Bilt is clever, snarky, and spoiled rotten. William Knight is cocky, impatient, and slightly dimwitted. So how exactly did Will manage to kidnap Emma and her best friend twice and live to talk about it? *** "What the hell-" I screeched. "Good morning, sunshine." I looked up in alarm and saw the smirking face of my kidnapper. His face would have made me a lot angrier had it not been terribly swollen, thanks to yours truly. "I'd say good morning, but judging by the boner on your face, I'd say you weren't having such a good morning." His self-satisfied smirk fell almost instantly, and his partner-in-crime laughed out loud from the driver's seat. "Actually," he said, "I'm having a pretty good morning. My luck's about to change. You wanna know why?" I didn't answer. "I'll tell you why. I've successfully kidnapped the daughter of one of the richest men in the country." "Don't start counting your lucky stars just yet. This isn't over yet," I snapped. "Isn't it?" he asked, raising the eyebrow above his good eye. His other one remained in a permanent squint, and it made it kind of hard to take him seriously. "I'm not the one who's naked and tied up in a stranger's back seat." I glanced down at myself and noticed for the first time that I was in my bra and panties. Honestly, I was kind of relieved. When he'd said "naked," I'd assumed he meant birthday-suit naked, not half-naked. *** Warning: Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language. Mostly language. I have a colorful vocabulary.

“Love’s like a bullet. It’s fast. It’s furious. Sometimes you can’t see it coming. You can run from it. But you can’t dodge it. Unless someone stands in your way…” Growing up, Callie Tollson had always admired her older brother, Clay, for being exactly who he wanted to be…despite the consequences he faced doing so. With their roles reversed, Callie had always been the one to stand up for Clay when he was in harm’s way. She always thought this was enough. She thought she was able to protect him. That is until he turned the tables and unleashed harm back on those who had done it to him. She couldn’t understand why, being the one who stood up for him the most, she was the one he picked as the receiver for the final bullet in his gun. Now she’s the most feared girl in school with a haunting family tie to keep her stuck in the halls of Riverton High. As she tries to survive the rest of her junior year as the sister of the boy who brought a gun to school, she soon realizes she owes nothing to the boy who turned on her and everything to the boy who saved her life.

Christian Ryder may be seen as a heartthrob by the majority of the world's female population, but to Sophia Hastings, he might as well be the newest addition to her hometown's local zoo. Sophia is a young, aspiring actress with big dreams who swears having to work with Christian Ryder wouldn't be worth all the fame in the world. Christian is a cocky womanizer whose world is turned upside down when he realizes his new leading lady just so happens to openly hate his guts. Is it even possible for Christian and Sophia to learn to get along long enough to make a movie, or will hatred, scandal and childish games destroy their careers? *** My eyes widened and I randomly exclaimed, "Oh, my God!" "What?" "Christian, thanks to you, I now understand what people mean when they say you're dark and handsome!" Christian looked smug. "I knew you would eventually." "They mean that when it's dark, you're handsome!" The smug look on his face disappeared. "I hate you." *** Contains some spoilers to Kidnap My Heart.

A painful breakup pushes Kyla Evans to get into a fake relationship with the person her ex-boyfriend hates the most: Seth Everett. But what will she do when the game starts to feel too real? ***** Seventeen-year-old Kyla has sworn off love. After getting dumped all too suddenly by her longtime boyfriend Cedric, she becomes convinced that people are never really who you think they are. So when notorious playboy Seth Everett suggests that Kyla fake date him to get back at Cedric, it seems like the perfect plan... as long as she doesn't end up falling for him. Content and/or trigger warning: This story mentions cancer, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]