Again," said Ms. Mary. "Where have you been?"
"Sleep," said Snorkel. I smacked Snorkel on her face. The newest teen, Drift, laughed. Snorkel laughed cause Drift laughed and I smiled at him and frowned at Snorkel. She didn't know I liked him, but I knew she did. I looked around for Cuddles. "Ms. Mary," I said. "Where is Cuddles?" She looked at me, and frowned. She looked down.
"She died in a car crash," she said. The class gasped. I heard Panda crying in the back of the room.
"That's what I've been waiting to tell you," she said again. Well, there goes my fourth best friend on the start of my last year of college.
I shed a tear. Snorkel was making a puddle of them. "I'm sorry," said Ms. Mary, pulling out a tisue and wiping her cheeks, although it didn't look like she was really crying.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]