Billy Samuels is your average Georgian boy: tall, tan, rambunctious, and as free as a wild mustang. He's always been a popular one. His family is Jewish-turned-Christian and his reputation exceeds all of Arkanta, Georgia's finest. Socially skilled and exceptionally graceful, he's always been a people-pleaser. That is, until Kylan Leinheim shows up. Straight out of DC, her family is politically correct, formal, and hails from German-English descent. She's everything he's tried so hard to never be, yet he's completely fascinated by her foreign culture—her Yankee way of living.
When he confronts her, offering her a challenge, she accepts, and from that point on he has to try to make her laugh every day for the next 5 months of school in exchange for her approval and ultimately, her friendship. She deems him unworthy, but he's determined to win her friendship with his charming country ways. After all, he always gets what he wants, and to his advantage, he always works to get it.
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.
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