Pental Pal (noun) - one who exchanges letters to one another as pen pals. But uses the same writing utensil, in this case, a pentel pencil. They never wanted to do this from the start. The thought of writing to a complete stranger. Never seeing whose handwriting is in the letter you're reading. Someone who could be miles, maybe even oceans away from you. And all you get is a picture and a name. To Lizzabeth Teschler, this is extra credit. Even though she doesn't want to do this, she had to. But she's doing this for extra credit so she can still maintain her title of having the highest GPA record. Then she could finish the rest of high school and go off to college. Her whole life is all planned out for her, and she can't do anything to change it. There's a future for her, but not the one she wants. To William Patier, it's cruel torture. He had to do this against his will. This is his last chance before he gets shipped off to military school. Nothing but waking up at dawn, eating disgusting food, and not have a single girl in sight every day. After he graduates from school, who knows where he'll find himself. There's no future for him, not like there's any way to change it. So two complete opposites from different worlds are forced to write each other for a whole year. Add that with some arguments, secrets, two pentel pencils, some cookie butter, a Green Day album, an origami heart, some coffee from Starbucks, two teachers dating, Eddie Anderson, a rival and a cheater. With all that bundled up, who knows what will happen? But at least they don't know each other... right?

Hadley Jamison doesn't know what to think when she hears that her classmate, Archer Morales, committed suicide. She didn't exactly know him, but that doesn't stop her from feeling like there was something she could have done to help him. So to Hadley's surprise, on the very night of Archer's funeral, she has a run in with Death himself and is offered the chance to go back in time to stop Archer from ending his life. The catch? She only has twenty-seven days to do it. And if Hadley doesn't succeed? Well, she doesn't want to think about that.

"Give me ten days, and I can give you ten reasons not to die." Evan paused. "And if I can't change your mind by then, you can go jump off that cliff."

"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"