"Oomph!" The sound rushed out of my mouth as the door opened before I could reach the handle and my body hit a wall. I took a step back and realized that it wasn't in fact a wall, but instead a very attractive male. I looked up at his head to see a very messy, but sexy, mop of black hair on top of his head. When I looked closer, I noticed that his hair was a very deep brown that was probably often mistaken for black. My gaze traveled downward to his eyes, where I found two deep, ocean blue eyes looking back at me. My gaze travelled farther down to his crooked nose, to which I assumed came from too many fights. My eyes finally found his pink, very plump lips, which were turned into a sneer. "You have got to be kidding me!" His pink lips said in a very offensive voice. My eyes turned questioning as I looked back up into his eyes. "Whatever, lets finish this. I, Ashton Carter, reject you, as my mate." He, or Ashton, said with venom lacing his voice. He quickly turned and walked down the now vacant hallway with no glance back. Rejection? On my first day? The first person I make eye contact with at this school, rejects me. I guess that's how this school works, if the hottest boy in school rejects you, you're a nobody. So much for making friends, or mates, or whatever they call people at this school. I shake those ocean blue eyes out of my head and continue into the office to start my new life.

WATTPAD ORIGINAL EDITION In 1955, mixed-race Ethan Harper leaves his progressive hometown for a summer in Alabama where he's not welcome, except by resident free spirit, Juniper Jones. ***** After getting himself into a bout of trouble, 16-year-old Ethan Harper's parents send him to Ellison, Alabama, to live with his aunt and uncle for the summer. But the year is 1955, and Alabama is a far cry from his beloved home of Arcadia, Washington. As much as it's hotter in temperature, it's colder in every other way, and Ethan learns the hard way that people see his mere existence as a threat. Amidst all the mayhem, a fiery, free-spirited, oddball walks into Ethan's life. Her name is Juniper Jones. She is the first person in Ellison who seems unfazed by their racial differences, and she promises to give Ethan a summer he will always remember, filled with endless adventure and discovery. With Juniper, Ethan can breathe, he can be, despite the incessant attention and bullying their newly formed friendship attracts. Can the two survive the summer, run in the light and block out the noise of the outside world? [Published version comes out June 16, 2020 with Wattpad Books!] [[word count: 70,000-80,000 words]]