New Year's Eve, 1985. While the rest of California counts down with champagne at the ready, Tulsi Dulari and Simon Ganfrey are staring down futures already forfeited. Tulsi-a withdrawn, shut-down biochem dropout-has been marooned behind the Pulmonary Ward's reception desk for months, her ambitions derailed by grief and inertia. Simon-high-strung, motor-mouthed, and chronically ill-has learned to treat every moment as borrowed. He takes what he can get...until he doesn't. When Simon flatlines during Tulsi's night shift, she's pulled into post-resuscitation watch duty: a task meant to be temporary. Instead, the encounter sticks. What follows isn't friendship so much as a series of collisions: old scars traded like contraband-meals singed by both fury and overclocked ovens-laughter wagered in the face of loss. Neither of them has any talent for offering comfort, but they recognize in each other the same refusal to be pitied. Spanning one improbable year, The Things That Stay is a tragicomic novel about risky bets and reluctant grace, about the ferocious, absurd ways we cling to each other when there's nothing left to promise. When every step is taken in the shadow of death, why not take the scenic route together?

If you're judging this book by its cover and title, you're already proving the point this story wants to make. Try to move past this satirical obstacle in front of you. This is a story about bullying, and like the hundreds of other books on the topic, it will show you the harsh reality of being discriminated, belittled, ridiculed for something you cannot control- how you look, who you love, or what you believe in. But unlike these books, this story's sole purpose is not to tear your heart out of your chest as you mourn over your loss of faith in humanity. Instead, this book will make you laugh and love alongside these characters. Just like in life, there will be moments of dread and surrender, but there will also be moments of happiness, laughter, and love. - Naomi Lorraine, better known as Nerdy Naomi with her thick-rimmed glasses and straight-A report card, is the most unpopular girl in her school. Even with the help of her sarcastic comebacks, that doesn't stop her from getting bullied by everyone in Dartwell High. Every day her childhood bully, Raymond Meyers, knocks her off her feet, literally. However, she can't do anything but survive the laughs, insults, and bruises high school gives her. There are three senior transfer students, dubbed the Three Musketeers: Bennett Frazier, Jordan Wallace, and Declan Lynch. All in one day, Naomi catches their attention one by one. With her snarky attitude, but innocent look, they can't help but want her. But not the way you're thinking. Oh no, not like that. Instead, it's probably the whole opposite. It's quite simple really. She'll be their good girl. And they'll be her bad boys. ~ [This story is a first draft written by a 13 to 15-year-old girl so it has its fair share of grammar mistakes and plot holes.] Wattys 2015 Talk of the Town Award Second Place Story of 2015 Best Humor and Overall Points of The Fiction Awards 2016 Third in the Writers Awards 2016 Highest Ranks: #1 Humor, #1 Teen Fiction

Mae and her boyfriend are toxic to each other. He hits her and she covers it up with makeup. But one day after the screaming and yelling, one of her neighbors came over to check up on her. Lo, and behold it was Damien. But after Damien tries to help, things go south fast.