Sky has her own list of never ending problems that seems to only be growing. Every time she solved one of them, two more would appear. Eventually, she did what all of us would do; she gave up. Instead she started to help fix the problems of those around her, so when her best friend suffers a hard loss from heartbreak, Sky makes it her duty to help her.
The best way to cure heartbreak was to move on. Sky had done it many times herself. That's what people don't notice. She hides her problems behind a smile, she doesn't let them see just how broken she is. You can't make anyone happy if you aren't happy yourself. So she puts up a front, most of the time it works and the line between reality and acting blurs, but the sadness is always there. The only way to be happy is to delude herself into believing she is.
What happens when her happy front doesn't fool everyone? What happens when someone looks close enough to see the real Sky. What's worse is who that someone happens to be.
He's not a bad boy. He definitely isn't a good boy. He isn't the outcast, but he isn't the classical popular guy either. He's good at sports, but not enough to be classified as a jock. Instead he's the class clown, the one cracking the jokes during class all the time. The one who knows exactly how to lighten a dark mood.
You would think that he'd be perfect for the job, being so happy and everything, but what if he isn't? What if the only one who happens to notice something is the one who can't help her. I mean, how can he help someone he can't even understand? But like every story, there's always two sides. There's always another person dealing with their own trouble that no one notices. And maybe at the end of the day, he isn't such a bad guy for the job after all...
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]]