"Hola!" yelled my Spanish teacher, Mrs. Diaz.
It was my first day of high school, and I was at a new school.
"Ok so since everyone is new, to get to know each other we are going to go up and down the rows, and when it's your turn, I want you to tell everyone your name, and a hobby that you have," she said.
Lucky for me, according to the seating, I was the last person to share. As I was waiting for my turn, I happened to look at the person in the desk next to me. A boy. The cutest boy I had ever seen in my entire life. He had dark brown hair with a bit of a wave to it, big dark eyes with a freckle underneath the left one.
I stared at him for quite sometime. I'm actually really surprised that he didn't catch me. As I turned my head away, now looking back at my desk, a girl got up from her seat and started walking towards me. As she passed my desk, she purposely shoved all my books off, and onto the floor, and all she said was a simple, "Oops!" then she walked back to her desk.
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]]