❝Be yourself.❞ They say. Except what they really mean is, ❝be the person we want to see.❞ Jaime Carvalho is done with all of that because it's not always rainbows and butterflies in the world of acceptance. -- short story #19 | teen fiction #100 09/12/14 Cover Art: @ambhus_art // Amber Quinonez Design Completed 8/16/14

When seventeen-year-old Lydia Good ends up getting drunk at a party and performs the biggest prank of her lifetime, her parents aren't too happy. With the Mayor threatening to press charges and refusing to take her fathers offer, her parents decide the best thing for Lydia to do is give back to the town and show everyone that she’s as good as her last name implies. Volunteering to answer calls for the Suicide Hotline is depressing in itself. If she’s not getting calls about people threatening to jump off buildings, or wanting to talk about their multiple problems, then it’s immature boys prank calling for kicks and giggles. When one night a call comes in from a guy saying he’s thinking about ending his life, Lydia doesn't know if it’s a joke or not. But when the boy calls back every single night at the same time, Lydia spends hours upon hours trying to decipher the guy behind the call. Because what’s worse than falling for a guy you don’t even know? Falling for a guy too lost to even love you back.