Auden's life has been anything but easy. With a mother who acts more like a friend, and an absentee father, Auden's no stranger to poverty and neglect.
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When her mother meets a new boyfriend, Auden suddenly finds herself far away from her hometown in Arizona and forced to go to school in an all new town in California. Now she's living amongst the wealthy, navigating all new territory, a life she is completely unfamiliar with.
By chance encounter, she meets charming, popular, Hunter, who, sure, can be arrogant, assertive, and a bit full on, but is more than happy to welcome Auden to the town and introduce her to his friend group. Hunter is different from anyone Auden has ever known. He's magnetic and compelling, yet, also dangerous. Being with him makes Auden forget about everything else, especially her issues at home. Her relationship with Hunter happens fast, and Auden's unsure if he's too good to be true.
But Auden isn't alone in struggling with her homelife. There's also Ender. The closed-off, myserious boy living not far from her house who she can't deny the intense pull she feels towards him. He understands her and knows exactly what she's going through. Their bond may be a bit too intense to ignore.
As Auden is torn between the two, she begins to realize everyone's lives are infinitely more complex than they first appeared. The facades are beginning to wither, leaving behind brutal truths. Love isn't supposed to hurt like this, is it?
This story contains: alcohol, drugs, partying, swearing, abuse, domestic violence
Highest rank #27 in Teen Fiction.
Written by @apricitys.
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"What is this?" He asked, not even bothering to look at the canvas in front of me. Instead, his eyes were locked in mine.
I swallowed my saliva, chills running down my spine. I felt my palms getting sweaty as my legs nervously started bouncing up and down. Without giving me time to answer, he took a step closer to me, eyes still locked in mine. Each time he inched closer, I used my right foot to slowly push myself and the stool back. It seemed to be the only option to get away from him; until he forced his hands below the sides of my thighs, holding the stool in place. He released a soft chuckle as he eyed me from my eyes, down to my lips.
"You're beautiful," he said. From his voice, I couldn't tell if he was being serious, or messing around. It sounded sincere, however there was a smirk on his face. The smirk that he always has on his face when he's found an amusing target.
Then he averted his attentions back to my eyes. His expressions softened up the moment his eyes landed back on mine. His smirk disappeared.
I cleared my throat and broke the eye contact. I looked down at my palms as I rubbed the sweat against my jeans, "What do you want, Landon?" I asked, almost whispering.
I felt his hand brushing against my right cheek, as he tilts my chin up to look back at him. His messy brown hair, his light blue eyes and his pink soft lips were just centimeters from mine. I felt his breath lingering on the upper tip of my lip. In a panic, I pressed my palms against his chest and push him off.
He stumbled back with a surprised look on his face.
"Aubrey."
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Landon Carthy is an arrogant boy, who knowns to have absolutely no care in the world. Making girls suffer feels great to him. But what happens when a new girl in town becomes one of his victims? Will she allow him to walk upon her like all the other girls do?