Sometimes all you really need is a place to call home. *** Claire is lost and scared and utterly alone. Her family is in shambles after the death of her older sister Ina, and she's left to pick up the broken pieces of herself as her life heads into a downwards spiral of loneliness. Her heart leads her to 5:48, a little cafe by 33rd street, where she finds her new home. With a broken heart and a speech disability, Jasper has his heart and mouth sewn shut by the winding threads of hurt and fear. Painting and serving coffee in cafe 5:48 are one of his last few saving graces, but the smile he's been painting on himself will soon fade away as everything he's ever held dear slips away from his grasp. Ezra is out-of-sync and oddly cold by the way life has treated his young self. Abandoned by his single mother at an early age, he has grown up thinking that he is a mistake. His constant shaking hands are a reflection of what he often thinks of himself, but the delightful pastries he bakes for 5:48's customers are a reflection of what others see of him. Drew is a quirky rarity. He is a dash of loud, a pinch of exuberant, and a cup of eccentric - just like the meals he serves in the cafe as the only chef there. Behind his playful grins and outlandish clothes, however, are his jutting ribs, hollowed cheeks, and too-thin arms. Sometimes he cannot stomach being in his own skin as much as he cannot stomach food. This family has gone a long way from finding each other, and they'll be going a long way together too as reality comes catching up to them, threatening the newfound happiness they've found with each other. Secrets are revealed, pasts become presents, and lives are changed. Slowly but surely, they find their way back home. *** NOTE AS OF 08/2026: This is the old version of the story from 2012, posted in FULL. Another story that will be considered a reprise of this old version is in the works, and will be posted under the name "Hiraya House."

Rosie Alder-Pembrook isn’t planning on letting her ultra-feminist club get shut down due to the senior class council’s budget cutbacks (and to be honest, it’s kind of killing her senior year buzz). But when it seems that the only way to revive it is to strike a deal with the semi-sexist/mostly ignorant Class Council president, Peter Bevan, to help him fix what he broke with ex-girlfriend/real life Barbie doll, Ella Hall, she’s made to wonder if it’s quite worth selling her soul over. And so, alongside her best friend, (who she’s sure wasn’t always this hot) a group of angry teenage feminists, and the outlandishly willing drama department, Rosie embarks on a mission to reclaim her beloved club – at whatever the cost.

Elle Grayson's guilty pleasure is reading cheesy romance novels. Always has been, always will be. Maybe that's why she's never had a boyfriend - no guy can live up to her expectations of the guys in romance novels. She doesn't think there is one guy that can prove to be even half as decent as guys in books. But when there's somebody set on doing exactly that, things just might start to change. Romance #110 Short Story #23 - May 28, 2014

"Sorry--Annie's a bit busy trying to figure out her life at the moment." After high school and a long list of denied college applications (and one too many headaches), Annie Horne has just about had it with trying to meticulously plan out her life down to the very last detail. And in lieu of a college education, she decides to pack up her things and move north for the year to work for her uncle's book shop in his small New England community. But it's been years since Annie's actually visted him, and the community has certainly changed since she was younger. And in a town that actually reads, manning the phones at her uncle's shop can be quite the task for an eighteen year old. But when her uncle enlists the part-time help of Theo, the obnoxiously excitable neighborhood paperboy, Annie finds her job to be a bit more complicated than she'd anticipated.

Caleb Diaz is not an animal lover. At all. So when his friend Marnie shows up on his doorstep with a birthday card and a kitten for his big 1-8, he's more than a little peeved. Cats stink, no questions about it. And with graduation less than a year away, Caleb's hardly got the time (or patience) to cope with running around after a deranged and messy fur ball. Marnie refuses to be swayed, though. In fact, she's already gone and enlisted the help of her brother Daniel, an animal enthusiast who's convinced he can convert Caleb once and for all. Armed with kitten milk and scratch posts, the trio venture down the road of parenting - a journey that may or may not involve sleepless nights, pet-oriented fights and infinite weirdness. [cover by -sykes]

"I'm becoming a vlogger." "A vlogger? What the hell is that?" • • • Although it sounds almost impossible, a 21st century-world with no vlogs, no beauty hauls, and no tagged challenges was a world where Cassie lived in. Fynn had to change that. • • • a/n has many youtube references. even if you don't watch youtube, i hope this'll interest you into start watching it c: 03.09.14 humor #370 03.09.14 teenfic #605

A collection of notes, a public library, two teenagers, and zero spoken communication.

"As far as I can tell, there are two basic (kissing) rules: 1. Don't bite anything without permission. 2. The human tongue is like wasabi: it's very powerful, and should be used sparingly." In which Anna writes about a lot of people kissing.

"Is that me? In my sweatshirt and my sweatpants and my ugly hair- and Isaac!" "What? It's got tons of reblogs, Holland. You're basically tumblr famous." ... In which Holland is a tumblr addict who gets a candid photo of her posted online by an exasperating boy named Isaac Brussel. And- just her luck- it gets a thousand reblogs.

"alice?" he whispered, his voice nervous. "yeah?" she replied absent mindedly, stirring the coffee in the dark red cup with her spoon. "i love you," he said. an uncomfortable silence filled the air. "i love you, alice," he repeated, looking at her. her head was bent as she spooned the cream and only strands of her ginger hair hung from the sides of her face. "okay," she replied. [© noiembrie; cover by @aciddaisies] short story #76, romance #383, thirteenth july two thousand thirteen.