"I'm going to break your heart"
"then break it. Aurora I would rather fall in love with you and have you fuck me over a thousand times than picture a life without you. I would rather you rip my heart out, stomp on it, spit on it, and tell me to go fuck myself than have you walk away and never come back. Aurora, I never believed in love. I never understood how someone could be completely and utterly consumed by another person, until I met you."
"Aurora May, I'm in love with you"
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Aurora is slowly being consumed by her thoughts; constant impulsiveness, unpleasant ideas, overwhelming numbness. But, the part that scares her the most isn't the thoughts themselves, that would make anybody's gut wrench, a grown mans skin crawl, no. It would be her acceptance of the idea of finally drowning within herself and being more than okay with it; welcoming it...that's what scares her.
Chase is learning how to adjust to his new life. Going from living in a one bedroom apartment with his father, in Downtown Brooklyn, to moving in with his stepmother, in Upper East Side Manhattan, isn't easy. Switching from an "I do what I want, when I want" attitude, to feeling like the smallest of mistakes will cause your family to crumble, makes him feel suffocated.
What happens when the girl, who seems to have it all, meets the boy, who used to have nothing? What happens when minuscule glances turn to feather-like kisses and gentle touches? What happens when two "opposites" start to realize they have more in common than they once thought? When two rich kids, both struggling in different ways, start to find comfort within each other?
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]]