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."

Rainy days - in which inspiration is great, so I write.

Danika Wisher has a knack at getting herself into very strange situations. With hippie polygamist parents, an unfinished college degree, weird part-time jobs and promiscuous habits, her upbringing didn't exactly scream normal. So, when she meets Landon Armstrong-in a hospital wearing a puffy powder blue dress-she doesn't think too much of it. But when she keeps meeting him, time and time again, she can't help but think that maybe there's some greater forces working there. With her Wallstreet workaholic emotionally distant not-really-boyfriend-boyfriend, and Landon's own cold hearted contortionist ex-girlfriend, they're both emotionally unavailable in their own messed up way and in no place to be in any kind of relationship. But their unlikely friendship might bring them both something that they never had expected to find-their own stars.

Shae Blackthorn has a reputation to uphold. She's the bad girl, the one who sleeps with anyone, who scowls and is multilingual in English, French, sarcasm, and bitch, who creates music so well that she could be a prodigy, who is on a first name basis with the principal, who gets in trouble more times than you could possibly count, who has rumors that even celebrities are glad they aren't her. If there's anyone to be scared of, anyone to avoid at all times, it would probably be her, the musically inclined bad girl. But there's more to the story than it may seem. Underneath those blue eyes might be someone else entirely and Vane St. Clair, a new boy in town, wants to know.

Six teens are devoted to a game with one rule: If a player gets tagged, they must change their life within the next fifteen minutes. The better the player, the bigger the change. One might give their car away, or punch the school bully. Another might change identities or sacrifice their virginity. Anything to keep evolving, to avoid fitting into a label or caring about the junk they own. But their quest for enlightenment has taken a rotten final turn - one of the players has murdered the game's creator, the teen prophet (cult leader?) David Bloom. Our narrator is being framed for the crime; can he clear his name and discover which of his lifelong friends is the murderer before he takes the fall? [sic] is a gritty teen murder mystery that delves into the psychology of enlightenment among the criminally dysfunctional.

(A Leon Walden Story--Sequel to Life as Told by Nerdy) One word. One broken promise. One fateful night. That was all it took to lose her. And I knew we'd never be the same. I wanted to touch her face, hold her hand, to see her smiles again-even if I knew they weren't for me to keep. Now I'm back to square one. I'd make her mine again. But first, I've got to learn how to date a nerd.

As if life wasn't hard enough being bullied and treated like garbage all the time; my loathsome, insufferable seat mate just had to come with his "secrets" and torture my every waking hour. What's the big deal you say? Nothing except for the fact that he's some insanely beautiful Greek God under those nerdy glasses. And now, he lives next door. I'm Sarah and this is my story. Disclaimer: This story was written in 2011. Just so you know.