' "You knew it from the first place, I warned you about it!" He shouted, his dark green eyes on the wall above my head.
"But we agreed we'd try, didn't we? You said it would be worth it!" I shot back, my eyes stinging from the tears I was so desperately trying hold back. My hands were shaking and my knees felt weak, making it hard for me to stand.
"Yeah, well, it wasn't." He answered, his voice low, and then out eyes met for just a second and all I could see was darkness.'
Having recently moved from California, Emily tries to adjust to her new life in gloomy, sad Britain, and does her best to make her tedious, high school years worth remembering. Every now and then, she shots some glances out of her bedroom window, towards the house next to her garden where her mysterious, good looking neighbor she had never met lives. Everything seems to go just fine until one unusually cloudy day, she realises, for a short moment, she's not the only one that's watching.
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]]