"This isn't just infatuation, Nova. For fucks sake, I can't sleep, I can't eat. I can't function without you. I am utterly, and completely yours in every way."
"You once told me everything will eventually fall into place. When will we?"
Nova Martin, is a newly graduated twenty-one-year-old. Her three and a half years at NYU sculpted her for the real world, or so she thought. Like many new graduates, she thought she had her whole life planned out. New job, more money, bigger apartment. Unlike her professional life, her love-life was at a bit of a pause. She wasn't exactly putting herself out there to meet new boys. Yes, boys, she didn't like to think of guys sly of her age as men. There's no way a group of frat boys could go from keg stands to maturity overnight. To her, they were all the same. But what happens when family secrets and betrayal mix in with the life of someone who is just starting to really live?
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]]