What happens when you meet someone, someone you used to be totally jealous of, and you realise that they are not what you expected them to be? When Taylor Faith Romano spends her first time in after school detention in fifth grade, something unimaginable happens. Chloe Harte stepped through the very door of Mrs. Jenks' classroom and joins her. After spending time talking behind Mrs. Jenks' back, making insults about others that they loathe, and really just instantly connecting, the girls become best friends. Now, seven years later, they literally run the whole school. Their entire life is boys, love and gossip. That is, until a secret spills from Chloe's own mouth, that she had dated someone, someone she let get a little too close than usual, someone who left her too early. Now, trying to find out who broke her best friends heart, she struggles to compose herself. She realises things she shouldn't know about Chloe, and even worse herself. Can this drama queen stay, well, a queen? She really doesn't know, because compared to Chloe, all she'll ever be is second best.
Ella is falling apart trying to live a "perfect" high school life. Then she meets Ren, who can see past her scars. Suddenly perfection isn't her only option.
*****
Ella Volkov is a gifted music student, but she's depressed and starting to crack under the pressure of high school. Her overbearing father won't even let her choose what instrument she plays. Then she finds herself alone at a party with Ren, her best friend's crush. She'd always thought he was rude, but after that night he's all Ella can think about. Now she's trapped. If Ella dates Ren, it will ruin her friendship with Jenny. But if she stays true to Jenny, she's losing the one person who can see past her scars. It's up to Ella to decide if she will forge her own path, or stay in the "perfect" box designed for her...
Content and/or Trigger Warning: depression, anxiety, self-harm, violence, sexual assault.
[[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]