Overheard Stories

April I fight fires for a living-but I've never felt more burned than I did that night. As a forest ranger, I live on the edge of danger and calm. My body is strong, my will even stronger, but that doesn't mean I'm unbreakable. I thought love-real love-would see through the scars I keep hidden beneath my uniform. I thought Ellis saw me. Understood me. But all it took was one careless sentence. One drunken confession echoing through a baby monitor, turning a celebration into a battlefield. He humiliated me in front of everyone-my friends, my chosen sisters, myself. And now I'm standing in the ashes of something I thought would last forever, wondering if I've been lying to myself about what love really looks like. Ellis I was drunk. Stupid. Thoughtless. It was just a conversation. Boys being boys, joking around in a room where I thought no one could hear. But they did. She did. And I said things I can't take back. I don't even recognize the man who said them-because that man humiliated the strongest, most loyal, most incredible woman he's ever known. April is the kind of woman who runs toward danger. Who holds broken branches like they're bones and brings people back from the edge. And I crushed her with words. Now I'd do anything-everything-to take it back. But the damage is done. And I'm not sure I deserve to be the one who tries to fix it.

Ria Koss has never needed anyone to tell her who she is. Which made it so much worse when she heard exactly who Josh thought she was. She walked out with her head high and her heart intact. He's been trying to find the words ever since. Some men don't know what they have until it's gone. Some women don't wait around to find out.

Claire has always been a lot. Loud. Bright. Sunny. She never thought it would hurt so much to hear that the man she could see herself choosing only sees her as something to use for those very things. So Claire does what she does best. She walks away. And it works. Until the bond snaps into place and she realizes being with him was never a choice. It was fate. And now the man who broke her? He'll have to prove he's worth keeping.

A "wife" without the ring was what he was after. She let him witness her glow-up up close. Hailey is the perfect "stand-in." She has been Callum's lifeblood for the past two years, acting as an ideal partner without being called that. He believed he was getting a test run for free, while she believed they were creating a life. "I get all the good parts and none of the responsibilities... Sienna's the one I actually want," is what she hears next, and it completely changes her life. Game. Set. Match. Hailey stops being the force that keeps Callum going. Callum's life turns into a hilarious, mouldy nightmare of weaponised stupidity and "salmon-pink" laundry disasters. Hailey finally starts living for herself. And then there's Nick - the rugged builder who doesn't just have a vibe; he has a spirit level, a plan, and a way of looking at Hailey that makes her feel like a masterpiece, not a convenience. Featuring: The "Placeholder" Revenge Weaponised Incompetence vs. Radical Indifference The Ultimate "Upgrade" Hero A Slow-Burn Downfall that is 100% Spectacular

Compilation of the weirdest, funniest or offensive things I've heard throughout the school week

❝of course we're on crack, it's the teenage condition.❞ the third collection of the very iconic, completely random, and extremely context-free phrases i overhear the humans around me speak. started: 3/6/20 completed: -- book 1: what an icon! (https://my.w.tt/7mcUl1tSW5) book 2: actual legends! (https://my.w.tt/UimJatASW5)

❝anything you say can and will be recorded as an overheard quote.❞ the first collection of the very iconic, completely random, and extremely context-free phrases i overhear the humans around me speak. started: 2/16/19 completed: 7/1/19 book 2: actual legends! (https://my.w.tt/cZN1c6oSW5) book 3: chaotic energy! (https://my.w.tt/T94wEP8RW5)