تسجيل الدخولPROM PREP{Playlist Suggestion: "Dancing With Your Ghost" by Sasha Alex Sloan / "The Night We Met" by Lord Huron}~CHELSEA POV~I was staring at myself in the cracked mirror of my tiny bathroom while Zoe aggressively pinned my hair up into this elegant, sweeping style, but I honestly felt like I was looking at a complete stranger, like I was an imposter wearing someone else's skin."Stop moving, Chelsea, I swear to God if you make me smudge this eyeliner I am going to make you walk to Prom," Zoe muttered around a bobby pin she was holding between her teeth, spraying a toxic cloud of hairspray around my head that made me cough."I'm sorry," I whispered, my hands squeezing the edges of the sink so tightly my knuckles were white.I was wearing a beautiful midnight blue silk dress that hugged my curves perfectly, the kind of dress that a normal high school girl would literally kill to wear to her Senior Prom.But every time I looked at my reflection all I could see was a liar.I was a com
THE THREAT{Playlist Suggestion: "Blood // Water" by grandson / "Animals" by Architects}~KOLT POV~I was standing on the second-floor balcony looking down at the main floor of The Mirage, nursing a glass of bourbon that I didn't actually want to drink, just obsessively tracking Chelsea as she moved between the VIP tables with Zoe trailing a few feet behind her like a neon-haired bodyguard.Everything was supposed to be completely normal tonight. I had doubled the security at the front doors and explicitly told Antonio that if any of Kade's little high school friends tried to get in they were to be immediately turned away. But all the security in the world doesn't mean a damn thing when the devil already has a VIP black card.I saw the flash of blonde hair first.It was near the edge of the bar, moving smoothly through the crowd with that arrogant, untouchable swagger that comes from knowing your family is worth three billion dollars. And the absolute second my brain registered tha
DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR{Playlist Suggestion: "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift / "High School Sweethearts" by Olivia Rodrigo}~VALERIE POV~I was sitting at the absolute best table in the senior courtyard, swirling an iced matcha latte around in its plastic cup and pretending to listen to Brittany complain about her terrible eyelash extensions.But my eyes were completely locked on Kade and his little charity case standing over by the library doors, And honestly, it was so pathetic it was almost painful to watch.Anyone with functioning eyeballs could see that their little fairytale romance was completely and utterly falling apart.Kade was hovering over her, leaning on his black cane—which he had upgraded to from the crutches—trying to hold her hand and talk to her with this intense, desperate look on his face, but Chelsea looked like she was literally standing in front of a firing squad.She kept pulling her hand away, avoiding his eyes, her shoulders hiked up to her ears looking absolut
NORMALCY{Playlist Suggestion: "Until I Found You" by Stephen Sanchez / "Lover" by Taylor Swift}~CHASE POV~I was sitting across from Emma Chen in a cracked red vinyl booth at this cheap retro diner that smelled heavily of fried onions and vanilla milkshakes.My brain was basically malfunctioning because I had absolutely no idea how normal teenagers were actually supposed to do this dating thing without a nurse coming in to check my vitals every fifteen minutes.We had just gotten out of the movie theater where we watched the absolute worst, most predictably terrible horror movie ever made, and I was so hyper-aware of everything my body was doing that I felt like I was vibrating out of my skin.I was trying so hard to make sure I wasn't breathing weird, or looking too pale, or acting like the fragile sick kid, but Emma wasn't even treating me like that—she was just sitting there stealing my french fries one by one, dragging them through a puddle of ketchup and smiling at me like I wa
RAIN AND LEATHER{Playlist Suggestion: "Earned It" by The Weeknd / "I See Red" by Everybody Loves An Outlaw}~CHELSEA POV~The storm hit the city less than an hour after he hung up the phone on me, the thunder banging the thin, cheap windows of my apartment so hard I thought the glass was going to shatter inward.I couldn't sleep, I couldn't even close my eyes because my blood was practically boiling under my skin, buzzing with the echo of his voice and the dark, terrifying promise he had made right before the line went dead. I threw the thin blanket off my legs and walked over to the window, wrapping my arms around my chest as I stared out at the torrential downpour flooding the cracked streets of my neighborhood.And then I saw it.Parked halfway down the block, sitting under a flickering orange streetlight like a shadow that didn't belong, was a huge, sleek black car that cost more than this entire zip code.My heart literally stopped beating in my chest.He hadn't stayed at his p
LATE NIGHT STATIC{Playlist Suggestion: "I Wanna Be Yours" by Arctic Monkeys / "Call Out My Name" by The Weeknd}~CHELSEA POV~The glowing red numbers on my cheap digital alarm clock said it was 2:14 AM, but it felt like I had been staring at the cracked paint on my bedroom ceiling for a hundred years.The apartment was completely dead silent, except for the faint, steady sound of Chase's breathing coming from the other room.Which should have been comforting to me since he was finally home and actually healthy, but instead the quiet was just leaving too much room for the thoughts I was desperately trying to run away from.I rolled onto my side, tangling my legs in the thin bedsheets, and stared at my cell phone resting on the floor next to my mattress.I was supposed to be a good person. I was supposed to be the loyal, loving girlfriend who was standing by Kade while he recovered from a devastating surgery that was basically my fault, but every time I closed my eyes, I didn't see Ka
A LOST FAIRY TALE {Playlist suggestions: "High off you" by Lil Noodle, YLA Howe}~CHELSEA POV~The last two days felt like a blur. I spent both nights at Zoe's small apartment, sleeping on her couch with the TV on, trying to ignore the feeling of being trapped. I was tired, but I couldn't stop th
AFTERMATH{Playlist suggestion: "Wrong" by Zayn ft Kehlani}~KADE'S POV~The night air hit me with a cold, sharp shock, and it was filled with noise.Blue and red lights stuttered across the blacktop, painting Venom's entrance in streaks of warning. An ambulance door slammed, rattling metal against
AFTERMATH~CHELSEA POV~{Playlist Suggestion: "Pink Ballon" by Jade LeMac}The bruises bloom across my arm like ugly fingerprints I cannot scrub away.Zoe stares at the purple crescents where my mother's nails dug in, her face twisted with disbelief. "You're telling me that woman did all this to yo
A STRANGER'S EYES~CHASE POV~{Playlist Suggestion: "Cigarette Daydreams" by Cage the Elephant}The first thing I notice when Chelsea knocks on the door isn't her voice—it's the exhaustion written all over her. The kind of tired that seeps into your bones. The kind I know too well.She pokes her h







