The Road to Ruin

"This is the road to ruin / And we're startin' at the end." - Alone Together, by Fall Out Boy

Audralynne May Beckett is a Type 1 Diabetic, but this doesn't mean she consumed too much sugar as a child. It means she always has to remain connected to her insulin pump and she panics when she can't feel it at her hip. It means that she is covered in little scars from the multiple daily injections she has needed since age four. It means her pancreas failed, and since it did, she has suffered from and incurable disease that is constantly ridiculed. Despite being a legally disabled teenager, she is an advanced dancer at a small studio, honors student, bibliophile, speechie, and poet, as well as a member of student council and regular volunteer at the local animal shelter. A busy, intelligent, beautiful girl fighting a daily uphill battle, with the help of an old friend.

Landyn is in the same boat. After becoming diagnosed, he has stuck to playing hockey and kept a high GPA, with Audralynne's tutoring. Even with the bulky infusion set, CGM, and pump, he remains eye-candy for the majority of the female sophomore population at Copperwood High School. Two teenage diabetics, both struggling to deal with the chronic illness, its complications, and everyday adolescent life. They've been close since they were both eight years old, but as real life challenges begin hitting them, will their friendship crumble? Will they be able to keep control of their lives and disease while living in the chaos of high school?

Starting at the end of the road to ruin, this story of young love, hope, and maturity unfolds through hockey games, hypoglycemia, and hospital visits, reworking the normal rebellion of adolescence through the responsibility and struggles of diabetes.