Leslie is just entering her sophomore year and her protective brothers are on her case big time. All she wants is to survive high school, but with one of her brothers as a senior and all of her older brothers in college, there's no guarantees. Two of her older brothers just graduated college and came home for the year, which means that any guy within a five mile radius will be scared off by the three of her brothers combined. Sad thing is... there's a couple of guys that have an eye on Leslie.
While her brothers are constantly testing the guys to see if they are "suitable," Leslie sneaks around. Going to concert after concert, partying it up all she can, and having fun as she tries to find a guy that fits her list, not her brothers. When she does find a guy that fits all her criteria, she starts to flirt it up. But what she doesn't know is that the guy is one of her brother's best friends, Denmark. And there's another guy she's met, whom she's called the "mysterious man" because he fails to tell her his name every time they hang out.
Denmark likes Leslie a lot, but protective Lucas, Leslie's brother, knows that Denmark can't be trusted. In order to protect his sister, he starts making up lists of guys that she might be interested in and sending them her way. The thing is, he's made friends with someone that had befriended Leslie when she was younger. And he might just send him her way, but what if Leslie doesn't remember him?
Leslie's life is in for a twist of events that she thought would never happen, especially when she just turned sixteen!
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.
[[word count: 50,000-100,000 words]]