Watty Finalist: Mystery/Thriller, On the Rise I see him vividly in my head. Him. The guy who calls himself A for whatever reason. The guy dressed in a black cloak with a hood that makes his face look like an endless sea of darkness. The guy whose voice is like velvet; so smooth; yet so deep and dark it sends chills down my spine every time he speaks. The guy whose simple words and actions are enough to send my heart into a frenzy. The guy whose black-as-night eyes captivate me day and night. The guy who enjoys teasing me and making me angry, like it's one of his new hobbies. The guy who has the power to make my legs turn to jelly in an instant. The guy whose past is so deep, dark, and bottled up that it scares me. The guy who spends most of his time stalking me; visiting me at night. The guy whose arms hold me so tight and securely. The guy who evokes feelings in me that honestly scare the hell out of me. But he's not just a guy. He's a criminal. The criminal that calls me cupcake.

Holly's new, young teacher has a dark past, and a dangerous future. She soon finds herself charmed by his ways, and gets thrown into the chaos. Who knew having an ex-gangster for a teacher could be so troublesome? As Holly and Mr. Heywood grow closer, more questions about his past come upon Holly, as does danger. What is Mr. Heywood keeping from Holly? And why is it so bad? But most importantly, if she falls for him, could their relationship survive? After all... it would be a proscriptive relationship.

I don't know how it happened. One minute I'm living an extremely lonely life and all it takes is getting lost to change all of that. But, change is good, right? Yeah, if you take the fact that I was entrusted with the most adorable little girl as good. Throw in a reunion with a twin brother that I haven't seen in years and a gang of bad boys to the pile and all is peachy keen. As complicated as it seems, there's more. Now, I have to keep a certain mystery boy away from me for my own sake. I have to deal with a brother that thinks these bad boys are his new best friends. And on top of all of that, someone's after me. Forget the fact that this is senior year. Why can't I just be Khloe Mason, an uncoordinated mess of fandoms. Now, I'm The Bad Boy's...What?

Selena's life is in shambles. Isolated by most of her family, witnessing a lifelong friendship crumbling before her eyes, and being torn apart from the boy she fell so idiotically in love with, she doesn't see how things could get much worse. But once again, the universe finds uncanny enjoyment in proving her wrong. On the other end of the spectrum, Conner's not doing much better. Like Selena, his family is completely against Conner and his girlfriend's entire relationship. The only difference being, his family is on the side against him. And as if he wasn't unlucky enough, Selena's handsome and foreign almost-ex-boyfriend picked the perfect time to come and pay them a visit. With more than ever on the line, what started out as harmless fun has morphed into something entirely more heartbreaking. Even best friends have their issues sometimes, right?

❀❀❀❀❀❀ "That doesn't even make sense." I shook my head, bored out of my mind. "Does it have to?" He let a grim, fraction of a smile appear, before absurdly dismissing the conversation from the air with the flick of his mitts. Focusing back on the Patriots' game, he moaned in delight whilst crunching down on my hard earned Fritos. "My house, my rules. Go get me some macaroni." For once in a millennium, I didn't have a comeback. The bottom half of my jaw fell, and I stared at the bundle of malice curled up on the couch, just to make sure I was hearing right. He'd surpassed my plan. He found the loophole, the way around being made fun of by the other fitness jocks and most of the student body. 'Til next September, I am his slave. I thought I was a step ahead of him, but turns out, he was two steps in front of me the whole time. And he knew it. ❀❀❀❀❀❀ B E A U T I F U L cover art done by the talented and gorgeous @ElliMau Humor #35 Teen Fiction #52 12|2|13 © Copyright 2013 No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher

(COMPLETED) Charlotte Summers is the last virgin in her school; a school where taking virginity is a sport. The sport has five main contenders: Tyler Bradshaw, the mysterious bad boy; Alec Jennings, the all-star athlete; Ian Jameson, the cocky rich guy; Beckett Cartwright, the renowned genius; and Lucas Chandler, her best friend. With all these guys determined to win the title of the Virginator, will Charlotte make it out alive with her virginity? tumblr link for pictures: http://thelastvirginstanding.tumblr.com/ Cover by @WeAreAHurricane [#4 Teen Fiction / #4 Humor]