It hurts to breathe. It hurts to live. I hate her, yet I do not think I can exist without her.” ― Charlotte Featherstone, Addicted Credits to whoever made the cover.

poetry by a person that's afraid of people. 12/23/15- #1 in poetry

When Helena finds a phone on the night train, she decides to text the first number in the list of contacts in order to figure out who it belongs to. ***** Helena Santos hasn't had the easiest life. At twenty-one, she's the legal guardian of her teenage sister, in the final year of her nursing degree, and working night shifts at her small-town's local bar. And things get a lot more complicated when she finds a phone on the train home and decides to text the first number in the list of contacts, in hopes of tracking down its owner. That contact? Adam Bauer; the charismatic, sweet, and refreshingly honest older brother of the person who lost their phone. As the two continue talking, they can't ignore the chemistry and growing feelings between them, but life is never that simple. To make things work, Helena and Adam need to juggle a troubled sister, a meddlesome ex-boyfriend, and one fat lawsuit - all intent on keeping them apart. [[word count: 40,000-50,000 words]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: This story contains swearing, mature themes, and sexual content.

"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"