Cassie "Sassy" Williams has a normal life down in Salem, Massachusetts. She has a small group of friends, an older sister, a mother, and a father. She's a freshmen in college and a Beatlemaniac. She plays guitar and piano. She has a best friend. A Directioner best friend, even though Sass hates One Direction.
Louis has the dream life. He's a multi-millionaire, international superstar. His birthday is the day before Christmas Eve, for God's sake! But for a reason unknown to anyone but him and his mother, every year when winter comes around, Lou loses his bubbly, happy-go-lucky, i-don't-give-a-fuck-and-neither-should-you attitude.
These two very different people have some seemingly unrelated secrets.
Zayn... Zayn just changed. Perrie left him for an old ex, and he shut down and became the steryotypical famous boy, expecting the world to love him when he doesn't help the world do shit. But there's still enough of the old him left to know that there's something off about that "Sassy" girl Lou's so obsessed with. Something very off.
When three worlds collide, what happens?
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]]