Macey Saptle, a normal 15 year old, living a normal life..until her best friend does suicide the day before summer vacation. She, and her best friend's death, become the talk of the small neighborhood. After this traumatic event, she shuts everyone out and stays in her room for what feels like the whole summer. Rocks are commonly thrown, rumors gone around she'd done the same thing as her friend had. The week before summer ends, her mother forces her to come out, she soon to realize things have changed, and her friend..plus herself, was forgotten. Her mother offers to go ahead and get her some clothes, even a new hair cut..and she happily takes the offer. Wearing dark clothes with band symbols she'd listened to over her lonesome time, and her hair dyed a light teal while also getting a nose ring, she heads to school, forgetting that there would be new kids. New people to hear her story.
She keeps to herself, often hearing the word "different" to describe her, she skips lunch and reads books alone in her favorite teacher, Mr. Kingstuen's classroom. That is, until Vincent Alibent comes into her life, wrecking and changing it to his wishes. She tries to block him out, and be alone once more, but he won't let that happen. Going through his tricks and riddles, the crazy life she got herself dragged into will begin. Meeting new people, scary experiences, she still has good in her. She listens to heart and follows her gut, making sure to get little hints from her mind every now and then.
She soon figures out Alibent's secrets, who he truly is, his past..things such as those. And she'll immediately regret it.
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]