Juniper Matthews was the girl who would put on one façade after another, desperately trying to please every person she came across. Because of this false personality, nobody ever stopped to think about what happened behind her closed doors.
Yet, that was undoubtedly what she needed most. To the residents of their snobby town, she had a loving family, genuine friends, and a great future ahead of her. Except, that couldn't be farther from the truth.
All the people in her life pulled her by her limbs every which way, and she allowed it. She was so naïve and blinded by manipulation, it began destroying her mentally.
However, when Juniper started to become closer to a mysterious boy along with his friend group, she changed her life forever. Confidence, acceptance, and rebellion can be used to effectively describe this friendship. Though it would soon bring on backstabbing, blackmail, and utter chaos in her life.
Would this friendship still be worth it if in the end, all Juniper had was them?
After three weeks of her high school sweetheart strangely acting like the biggest asshole towards her, Juniper's boyfriend breaks up with her and seemingly that's the end of that. Embarrassed, heart broken, and unsure what to do, Juniper says nothing to her friends about the breakup, not three days later when Abel makes it official by dropping off everything she ever gave him, and not two days after that when they're forced into each other's proximity for their friend group's weekly game night. Strangely enough, Juniper finds out that Abel has ALSO not said anything to his friends about the breakup.
The biggest reason? Abel's best friend just so happens to also be Juniper's big brother. What would Hayden do once he found out about their breakup? Would he and Abel still be friends? Would Juniper WANT them to still be friends? They'd been friends twice as long as Juniper and Abel had dated. Hayden would drop Abel in a heartbeat for his sister, but he would be just as heartbroken as her. She didn't want that. But she didn't want to be stuck seeing Abel all the time after what he'd said to her either.
Juniper agreed to not tell Hayden about their breakup until they were both ready. But that meant, they'd have to still act like a couple- like the couple they were before- in order for Hayden not to find out.
As the 'pretending' goes on, and neither one of them seems closer to being 'ready', both Juniper and Abel start to wonder if Hayden is the only reason the other person won't let go.