Chin up, Darling

Her mother left and took her father's mind with her. Nicole Blakely found that out when she was 14. Even though it had broken her heart to have her mother leave too, she couldn't show it. The drinking started and her father's pain began to show on her body. Near the end of her Sophomore year people started to get suspicious and made them have to move during the summer. The more time that passes only makes things worse. Her father gets more and more careless about what he does. It makes it difficult to hide what is going on in her home.

Nicole's new school is full of people who act friendly, but aren't. The only two people who seem genuine are Ethan and Sam. They've made it obvious that they are interested in being her friend. Having friends isn't easy when you are expected to hide things from the public eye and always be at home.

Ethan Bane used to live with his Uncle in Colorado after his family got killed in a car accident. Unfortunately for him, his Uncle had been suffering a lot of mental issues for a long time. He'd started to take out his frustrations on him until he nearly killed him. That led to him being sent to his other Uncle in the countryside of New York during his freshman year of high school. He learned that friendly faces doesn't always mean friendly people and ended up keeping only his cousin as his friend. All he wants is to get away and start a new life of his own, alone.

Living with his Uncle George is too painful because of the resemblance to his other Uncle. Not even his cousin can bring comfort to him about that, no matter how hard she tries.

Nicole and Ethan might have what it takes to help each other, but will they allow each other to do so?