Novels by Ebby Greene

Chapter Fifty-Two: Promise. As each minute passes by, it seems as if one more person is joining the party. It is easy for Stephanie to find Chris. She finds him in the living room, surrounded by his teammates and friends. She giggles to herself, "That's my boyfriend." As she watches proudly, three girls join the group and Steph's smile turns into a frown. She watches the scene for about a minute and all she could see was the girls flirting with the guys - Chris especially. Steph grits her teeth and begins to stomp her way over to them. She imagines herself as a giant with steam coming out of her ears on the way to crush those girls. Once there, she clears her throat loudly from behind the girls. They all divert their attention to her. "Hazel." Chris wiggles his eyebrows at her. That seems to annoy her even more. She pushes the girls aside with her hips, surprising Chris. She moves closer to him and touches his cheek. "Are you okay, babe?" "Of course I am. I should be as

Chapter Fifty-One: Barbie Girl Chris drives home with a smile on his face. He can't seem to wipe the smile off his face. He pulls into their driveway, parks, and exits the car. As soon as he steps into the house, Emily welcomes him. Their mum appears from the kitchen. "You are just in time for dinner." 'What are we having?" "Your favorite," their mum grins. "Yay!" Emily cheers and Chris grins at her. "I can already tell that your day was splendid with that grin on your face," their mum, Kate beams. Chris tries to stop himself from smiling but he can barely keep his lips straight for ten seconds before it curves back up. "It was. It really was." "It's because of Stephanie," Emily comments. Chris walks over to her and ruffles her hair. "Smart pants." Emily frowns and as usual, swats his hand away. "Come help me set the table for dinner." "Yes, Mum." They both help their mum and some minutes later, they're settled down at the table, ready to eat. "So, tell us about your day

Chapter Fifty: Yes "Oh my God! Are you okay?" Steph asks and Chris answers by groaning, which makes her burst into laughter. "I... I can't believe you fell," Steph begins in between laughter. "A professional like you landed on his butt. Isn't that just great?" Chris sighs. "The tables have turned and you're to be blamed for this." "How am I to be blamed? It's not like I pushed you," Steph retorts. "You shocked me with your question. Or did I hear wrong?" Chris asks as he stands up. "What did you hear?" "It sounds crazy but I think you asked me to be your Boyfriend," Chris says skeptically. The look she gives him makes him begin to believe he was hallucinating; he had somehow conjured up the image of her saying those words to him. Damn, I've just made things awkward, he thinks. So he forces himself to laugh dryly. "That was obviously not what you said." "It's exactly what I said," Steph deadpans. Honestly, how Chris is reacting to her question is more surprising to her than h

Chapter Forty-Nine: Boyfriend? "Where are we going?" Chris asks for the umpteenth time from the passenger's seat; it hasn't even been five minutes since they left. "I told you. You'll find out when we get there. Stop asking already." "Ugh... This is annoying," Chris grumbles. "You acting like a child is annoying," Steph retorts. They've only been driving for a few minutes and Chris seems to be running out of patience. Though Chris is acting like he doesn't like the situation one bit, he's very happy. Getting to see Hazel alone has made his day but getting to spend time with her on his birthday is on a whole new level. He doesn't think he has ever been this happy on his birthday. Albeit she doesn't seem to know it's his birthday, he doesn't mind. He can't expect her to remember it since it's been a while he told her. She probably even forgot it right after they spoke about it. So it's all good. "Can you give me a hint?" "No!" Chris sighs. " Can I at least turn on the radio?" "I

Chapter Forty-Eight: Happy Birthday Chris awakes to the sound of his phone ringing. He stirs on his bed and hopes the annoying sound stops. He sighs in relief when it does only for him to groan when it starts again. "Oh, God!" He mutters as he reaches over to get his phone from the nightstand. He stares at the screen and rolls his eyes when he sees that it's a FaceTime call from none other than Jason. He considers declining it but knowing Jason he would just keep calling. Jason's face appears after he answers it. He has always been the first one to wish him on his birthday among his friends. "Happy happy happy happy birthday. Happy happy happy birthday. Happy happy happy birthday. Chris, I wish you a happy--" "Do you have to sing?" Chris interrupts his singing. "Do you have to torture me with your awful singing voice this lovely morning?" Jason glares at him through the screen. "You're an asshole. You think everyone can sing like you, huh? You're a jackass, dude. I can't believe w

Chapter Forty-Seven: Anxious A MONTH LATER... Things have happened and things have changed in the last month. Steph can vividly remember how two weeks into senior year, Brooke had said it was boring and she had agreed. Well, these past two or three months have been anything but boring. And Senior year isn't even over. They're on winter break now and Steph can only imagine how crazy things would be when school's back on in the new year. They had winter formal after their finals and it was quite something. The thing is that both Luke and Chris asked her to go with them as 'friends.' Chris had asked first and she agreed. Then about two days later, Luke did. He kept emphasizing that they'll be going as friends and the look on his face was so pleading that she found herself saying yes, against her reasoning. It was only when Luke exhaled in relief that she realized she had already said yes to Chris; hence, finding herself in a sticky situation. She wished she could have gone with bot

"The best gift you are ever going to give someone — the permission to feel safe in their own skin.”― Hannah Brencher.MaisieAS FAR AS I knew, Avery didn't like Raymond. Not one bit. But tonight, it was as if she suddenly liked all the things she claimed she hadn't. Firstly, she made us come to this party that she clearly said she wasn't interested in before. Then, she went ahead, and mingled with the said popular kids that she also didn't like. Now, she was dancing with Ray. And it wasn't just any dance, it was kind of provocative. I knew she was drunk but that didn't explain all that had happened tonight. She was already acting weird before we got here. I wish she had just opened up to me, instead of this disaster that was going on here. I watched her dance for a few minutes, contemplating my next course of action. I thought about what Avery would do if she wasn't under the influence of alcohol. She would definitely not be dancing with Ray. She'd definitely regret this. So, I wal

“Feeling beautiful has nothing to do with what you look like.” - Emma Watson.I WANTED THE ground to open up and swallow me. Because a guy had been dared to kiss the least attractive girl in the room, and he was heading towards me. Brittany saying ‘least attractive’ was putting it mildly. I was pretty sure she wanted to say ‘the ugliest girl.’ And to this guy, I was the ugliest girl.Wouldn’t you want the same if you were in my shoes?It seemed like everything was happening in an awful slow motion as I watched.Maisie, are you just going to sit here and allow him to kiss you, branding you as the ugliest girl in school? Are you just going to sit here and allow him steal your first kiss at this awful party that you were dragged to? I asked myself.No. I didn't want that. That would definitely suck. I wanted my first kiss to be with someone special; and not during a lame game at a lame party.So I did the only thing I could think of at that moment in time. I ran.I abruptly got up, an

“We can’t hate ourselves into a version of ourselves we can love.” –Lori Deschene. MY HEART WAS pounding. My palms were getting sweaty, and I was biting my lower lips. I didn't agree to this. I didn't want to do this but it seemed like my opinion didn't matter. For some reason, Avery was adamant about coming to the party and now, we're here, right outside Ray's house. Avery interlocked her hand with mine as we walked towards the house. I was still in my sweater and denim pants while Avery was dressed in black leather pants, ankle boots and brown leather jacket. It was way past 9 pm and I can think of way better things I could be doing than to be here. Not to mention that this was my very first high school party. I'd never been invited to things like this, and I wasn't invited to this one either. Avery dragged me along. "I don't think this is a good idea, Ave. Let's go back." I stopped walking, trying to dissuade her for the last time. "We are already here, Maiz. Let's have f

"So the question is, which boulder are you going to choose to roll? The 'must lose weight' boulder or the 'fuck you I will boldly, defiantly accept the body I've got and LIVE IN IT boulder.'" -- Kate Harding. "ARE YOU SURE you have the right address?" Mom asked for the second time, turning to look at me with a weird look on her face. It looked like a mixture of confusion and awe.My gaze moved from the view behind her to meet her eyes. I didn't answer the first time she asked and I still wasn't sure about the answer now. I looked at the address Avery texted me and back at the house -- no, mansion. "Yes, I think so. "I could totally understand why she was skeptical. Even I was skeptical about being at the right address. We were in some rich neighborhood and we were parked in front of a gated mansion. I knew they were rich, I mean, I could tell from the way they dressed and the car they drove, but I didn't think they were this rich. The house looked like one of those chaebol mansions

“And I said to my body softly, ‘I want to be your friend.’ It took a long breath and replied, ‘I have been waiting my whole life for this.’” -- Nayirrah Waheed.“YOU ARE GOING on a blind date.” My mom announced over breakfast the next day.The coffee that was going down my throat went through the wrong pipe and I started to cough.Mom passed me a glass of water and I took a sip in a bid to ease my cough. She stood up from her chair and came to pat my back softly to ease it.When it seemed I had recovered, she returned to her seat.“Sorry, what?” Was all I managed to say.Mom continued eating like she didn’t just detonate a bomb. “You heard me.”No, I didn’t think I did. Maybe my brain was still fuzzy since I woke up about an hour ago. “You’re going on a blind date?” I asked her. I hoped that was what she had said and not what my brain thought she said. She dropped her fork and stared at me. “No. You. You are the one going on a blind date. Not me.”“Me?” My right hand rested on my ch

“You can’t hate yourself happy. You can’t criticize yourself thin. You can’t shame yourself worthy. Real change begins with self-love and self-care.”— Jessica Ortner.“WHAT IS GOING ON here?” Alex’s voice was firm and strong as he spoke.Even though I wasn't happy that he had shown up, it was nice to witness the Bs' shocked expressions as they turned to see who it was.“Alex!” Betty gasped, exchanging questioning glances with her group.“Fancy seeing you here, Alex.” Brittany said flirtatiously.Alex merely waited, staring at them with an expressionless face. His expression revealed nothing to me, so I had no idea what he was thinking. A few beats of silence went by before he spoke once more. "I ask again: ‘What is going on here?’"“His accent is so hot. I can’t get over it.” Bianca whispered a little too loudly to Betty. I had to resist rolling my eyes.Then the Bs realised that until they gave him an answer, he probably wouldn’t have a conversation with them.“Oh, yeah, that.” Britt

VIVIAN. One week later the pressure had become unbearable, and every time my phone lit up with another message from the loan sharks my stomach twisted so hard I could barely breathe, and by the seventh morning I was sitting on the edge of my bed staring at Asher’s number. I called him before I could talk myself out of it. He answered on the second ring, like he had been expecting me the entire time. “Vivian.” “I’ll do it,” I said, and the words came out quieter than I meant them to. “The contract. I’ll accept.” There was a short pause on the other end, and then he said, “Come to my penthouse at noon. I'll send the address to you, bring whatever you need for the next few days. We’ll handle the rest.” He hung up without waiting for a reply, and I sat there for a long moment with the phone still pressed to my ear, realizing that I had just sold a year of my life to the man I had slept with once and then tried to pretend I had never met. I packed a small bag with shaking hands, thr

VIVIAN.I stood there with my pulse roaring in my ears, mentally screaming at myself for being the biggest idiot who had ever lived because of course the one time I decided to lose my mind and sleep with a complete stranger it had to be the new acting CEO of the restaurant that paid my rent. “I’m Marcus, sir, been here three years.” “Pleasure.” “Sarah, evening shift mostly.” “Good to meet you.” Every polite exchange brought him closer and I could feel the panic climbing higher in my throat, and when he finally stopped in front of me I forced my mouth into something that might pass for a smile and said “Vivian Cross, sir. I’ve been here about a year and a half.” His gray eyes stayed locked on mine for a beat longer than necessary, and he simply nodded once and said, “Vivian” and then he moved on to the next person as if nothing had happened. We were dismissed a minute later and everyone scattered back to their stations, and I walked to the service station on legs that felt like

VIVIAN. I was so stupid.That was the only thought that kept looping through my head as I sat on the barstool and stared at the half-empty glass in front of me. Stupid for loving him. Stupid for believing every soft promise he ever made. Stupid for sitting through that entire wedding like a pathetic ghost while Tyler smiled at another woman like she was the only one who had ever mattered. I lifted the glass and drank. The burn did nothing to fix the hollow feeling in my chest. “Another” I told the bartender. He poured and I wrapped both hands around the new glass and tried not to picture Tyler’s face when he saw me standing there. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I didn’t notice the man who sat two stools down until he spoke. “Rough night?” I turned my head. He had extremely beautiful gray eyes, dark hair and a sharp jaw. “The worst.” I said. He nodded once and raised two fingers at the bartender. Another drink appeared in front of me. I didn’t thank him. I just drank it. We sat

VIVIAN. They say the saddest thing about betrayal is that it never comes from your enemies; it comes from those you trust the most. Like someone you’ve been dating for almost two years. Someone you've loved with the whole of your heart. Someone you were already picturing your future with. These are the types of people betrayal comes from. That was why I was watching my boyfriend getting married to another person before my very eyes. How did I even manage to come to my own boyfriend's secret wedding? The universe must be playing a sick joke on me. Or should I say it was a blessing in disguise? My heart felt like it was being trampled upon as I watched Cole smiling at the bride like she was the most beautiful woman in the world. I watched them say their vows to each other as my heart dropped to my stomach. I couldn't even hear what they were saying, it seemed like the shock had blocked my ears. I just watched everything like a bystander. My gaze fell on my invite on the tab

VIVIAN. My eyes opened to a beautiful sight that fateful morning — a very gorgeous man sleeping peacefully beside me. I had slept in his arms yesterday night after the mind blowing sex we had. It was the best we'd ever had. I lifted my head from his naked chest to stare at his beautiful face, very aware of our naked bodies rubbing against each other under the duvet. He was so handsome that at times, I wondered how I managed to bag such a hottie. I could stare at him all day. The thought of waking up to this every morning crossed my mind, and the corners of my lips lifted up. I couldn't wait to spend the rest of my life with him. I slowly raised my hand and touched the bridge of his nose. He reacted but didn't wake up. He looked so peaceful asleep that I placed my head back on his chest, hoping to fall back asleep in his arms. But just in that moment, my phone started ringing, shattering the silence. I quickly reached over to silence it but it was already too late. “Who's c