Mori_su
...Some secrets are kept to protect you. Others are kept to tear you apart....
Seventeen-year-old Adeline Elison is the "mouse" of the elite Muriel Ballet Center. Invisible, anxious, and suffocating under the heavy pressure of her former mentor's legacy, she hides in the shadows to escape the cruel whispers of Clara's popular high school circle and her fierce ballet rival, Celestine. Adeline dances like a breathtaking swan, but behind closed doors, she feels like a broken gray duck trying to survive a winter that refuses to end.
Enter Luke.
Tall, brooding, and armored in a dark leather jacket and a silver lip piercing, Luke is a senior photographer running from a toxic past that left him scarred. He isn't looking for friends, and he certainly isn't looking for drama. He just needs a muse for his final portfolio project. But when he looks at Adeline through his camera lens, the rest of the loud, fake world goes completely silent. Behind a green door enveloped in the smell of warm gingerbread, a quiet sympathy sparks between them. Through late-night text messages in the safety of the dark and secret photography sessions under a faded glass greenhouse, Luke becomes Adeline's fierce protector, and she becomes his ultimate light. But in a small town, the wolves are always watching. When Clara and Luke's toxic ex-girlfriend unite to weave a web of malicious lies, a high school winter rager turns into a violent battleground of jealousy and raw adrenaline. Bound by shared physical scars and a desperate need for safety, Luke and Adeline must learn to stand their ground. But just as the swan finds her wings, a sudden, devastating tragedy strikes Luke's home, threatening to pull him back into the pitch-black dark forever. Will their fragile safe haven survive the storm, or will the secrets they carry clip their wings before they ever get a chance to fly?