Americancollege Stories

After the death of her younger brother Marco, Beatrice Martinelli leaves for Denver with one goal: to learn how to breathe again. The University of Denver was supposed to be exactly that. Swimming. New friends. Distance from Milan and from everything that still hurts too much. Then she meets Logan Mercer. Captain of the hockey team. Med student. Brown eyes with a hint of green and the kind of coldness that keeps everyone at a distance. Everyone except Bea. Between constant arguments, chemistry tutoring sessions, thunderstorms, college parties, hospital corridors, and a tension growing far too slowly to ignore, Bea and Logan become the last thing either of them expected. Because some people change you quietly. And somehow, that hurts the most. Take You With Me is an emotional slow-burn college romance about hockey, grief, music, complicated friendships, and two people still learning that loving someone is terrifying - but losing them is even worse.

Do you ever wish you could go back in time and give your younger self some advice? I do too. And that is exactly what I am trying to do here in this non-fiction short story about my struggle getting into the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor.

"College might just be as taboo as we'd never thought, right Zach?" Beau Price, nineteen-year-old social butterfly, and Zachary Righteous, twenty-year-old blazing heterosexual, have been friends for eleven years and have just finished the rough tides of high school (well, Beau has) and are finally reaching peak young-adulthood. Their journey begins in a fresh first year of typical American college; you know, the frat houses and skimpy bikini girls and, we can't forget, the wild parties. But unlike his friend's definition of college, in the coming years Beau aspires to not only strive in his double degree of dancing and education, but to also find comfort in the biggest question of his life; does he like men or women? And suddenly, as if some narrator with mysterious intentions decided to make his life a living hell, Beau Price finds himself a hopeless romantic. With the pressures of a dragon of a dance coach; an abusive girlfriend; a hard time figuring out if he might just be in love with Zachary; and the mood swings of basic college bitches, can Beau survive? And finally, towards the peak of it all, who well prevail in this giant game of tug of war, him being the centre of the rope and his love interests on opposing teams?

This YA fiction novel delves into the story of college freshmen in their first few weeks on campus, showing the pretty, ugly, and uglier sides of academics, friendships, situationships, romantic relationships, and more. Each chapter is titled and inspired by an Olivia Rodrigo song, taping into the genre of angsty, teenage pop.