WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION Adrift after a failed suicide attempt, golden boy Everest can't find anything worth living for - until he meets Beverly, a loner determined to prove him wrong. ***** For a boy who seemed to have it all - wealth, good looks, popularity, a wide circle of friends - Everest Finley becomes the ultimate social outcast after failing to take his own life. Dejected and alone, he starts his last year of high school by acting out, determined to ruin his golden boy reputation after his best friend and girlfriend both turn on him. But to his surprise, resident loner Beverly Davis reaches out and tries to befriend him. Ever the optimistic, her empathy and persistence eventually convinces him to spend time with her, and the two slowly bond over their complicated family lives and a love of singing. But even as their budding friendship begins to hint at something more, Everest continues to struggle with depression and unhappiness. Can a simple pact between the two truly encourage him to find something worth living for? Content and/or Trigger Warning: this story contains mentions and descriptions of depression and self harm. -SKY

"When I tell you that he hates me, you'll probably assume it's because he's a jerk...but you'd be wrong. He's not a jerk. I am." --- Several years ago tragedy struck Emma's home, leaving her broken... like a cup with cracks spiraling and slithering around the edges. Slowly, bitterness crept in like tar, hardening between each fracture to resemble a deceitful wholeness. She became a monster, and targeted her venom on the sweetest person she could find: Trinity Nixon. Too bad the boy Emma longed for was Trinity's brother. Now, as Emma fights to win the heart of the boy who despises her, she's forced to hide her demons. She paints her fragile cup in pinks, yellows, and oranges - all the colors of the sun. She paints on a smile, and an unusual sense of humor, so that the world will view her as bright and cheerful, when in reality she's breaking. But she's completely unprepared for the acidic truth that melts away the tar, demolishing her shell, and awakening the Emma White buried deep inside. --- Book 1 in The Dismantled Pride series *Story was previously titled "Faking It"

Sometimes, what you are most afraid of doing is the best thing that will set you free. #BSS6