Promising 13

Ivy Lynch wanted more. It was selfish of her, but she wanted more than the hand she was dealt in life. She wanted to be great. She wanted to write to her heart's content. She wanted to heal people. She wanted to dance. She wanted to be happy. But she couldn't be. Not when her past haunted her with memories she couldn't shake. Not when her present tormented her with expectations she could never meet. No one would have been able to tell, though. Not that Ivy was majorly struggling every day.

Then Ivy Lynch disappeared at the end of Fourth Year, and no one knew why.

Johnny Kavanagh was perfect. That was how everyone described him. The golden boy. He was also desperately in love with one of his best friends. Not that he would ever admit that out loud or even to himself. He had bigger things to worry about. Like Rugby. Like living up to the expectations that seemed to grow heavier with each passing day.

But then Ivy disappeared, and no one could tell him why.

So, Johnny got over it. Or at least, he told himself he did. He focused on Rugby and moved on to other girls, which was a mistake, and he knew that, but he needed to get over Ivy and fast. Each meaningless encounter was another attempt to fill the Ivy-shaped hole she'd left behind, but nothing worked. Then everything came crashing down when Johnny got injured, and that was slowly killing him.

But then everything changes when Johnny accidentally hits Shannon Lynch in the head with a rugby ball, and the girl that disappeared came back into his life. Ivy Lynch was back. She looked different. She looked older, more guarded, with shadows in her eyes that hadn't been there before. She was back, and suddenly Johnny was thrown right back into his feelings. All those months of trying to forget her crumbled in an instant, like they'd never happened at all. Because God, Ivy Lynch was going to ruin him, and he had no idea how to stop it. And maybe, just maybe, he didn't want to.