"Screw you. Screw your idea of love. If you didn't imagine, at least once, a whole future of us together, then you were never really in love with me. Love isn't loving someone in the moment. That's called lust, and it's an entirely different concept. Love is loving someone for who they are, what they feel, how they act, the things they do, and how they portray themselves. Love is forever, love makes you question life without them. So screw you, for saying you loved me when all you felt was lust. Most of all, screw love in general. It's a messed up, horrible, deadly virus that kills your soul. Yet we all live to love, to lust, to die. We all live for a fucked up concept that devours our morals and kills us inside out. Screw it, and screw you, for making me believe it was beautiful."
As Claire aims to leave her oppressive stepfamily behind, she befriends Zion. Will he be her ticket to freedom or a distraction in achieving her dreams?
*****
Claire Olsen has had a crush on Zion Petrakis since the first time she laid eyes on him, but he never noticed, instead only having eyes on the school's it girl, Maddie Jennings. Knowing she couldn't compete with Maddie, Claire hid her feelings for Zion, satisfied with admiring him from afar. However, when a series of events led Claire closer to Zion, her feelings for him grew from infatuation to love. And despite fighting hard to keep her feelings contained by distancing herself from Zion, he was determined to show her that he's earned a spot in her life.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]