"My names Alby, not Newbie."
The boy chuckled," And my names Mars, the twat next to me is Amelia, fuck boy in the back is Elliot, and the brilliant girl next to him is Emma, but names don't matter - not here anyways," he said, lying stomach first on his bed, head resting atop his hands.
"What do you mean, 'names don't matter here'? What does matter?" this place just kept making less and less sense.
"Ask anyone of the nurses and they'll tell you that the purpose of being here is to bond with peers and find a cure," Mars said, "Well, you have to be pretty thick to believe that bull- shit. We are here for one reason: we're all fucking bonkers."
TW
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]]