If You Stay.

Hayley

I used to think I was fearless.

The girl who never backed down from a fight. The one who laughed in the face of danger. But then everything changed. After months of terrifying mood swings, voices, hallucinations, and losing control of my own mind, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder with psychotic episodes.

Now I'm terrified.

I push everyone away because I'm scared they'll see me at my worst. My grades are crashing, I barely leave my dorm, and every day feels like a battle against my own thoughts. My parents, Lucas and Logan, are worried sick. So worried that they make a decision I absolutely hate-they hire someone to stay with me.

Alexander Kate.

A trusted family friend's son.

Now he's in my classes, living in my dorm, making sure I eat, reminding me to take my medication, dragging me back to lectures, and sitting beside me through every episode without ever making me feel broken.

I keep trying to push him away.

He keeps staying.

Somehow, the more he sees the parts of me I hate the most... the less alone I feel.

I start falling in love with the one person who never walked away.

Alexander

When Hayley Carter's parents asked if I'd help her, I said yes before they even finished the question.

I grew up with Hayley. Back then, I had the biggest crush on her. That was years ago. Those feelings are gone... or at least, that's what I keep telling myself.

She tries to hide it from everyone, but I see how much she's hurting.

Learn the warning signs before she even realizes what's happening. My job isn't just to protect her-it's to remind her that she's still the same person beneath the illness.

She thinks she's a burden.

She isn't.

Some days she yells at me. Other days she refuses to speak to me at all.

Those moments remind me why I stayed.

I came here because I promised to help her get her life back.

I never expected my heart to find its way back to her too.