BENI feel alone. I feel betrayed. Gracie doesn’t like me again. How do you go from kissing one guy to being the girlfriend of another in minutes? That boy was drunk, maybe tipsy but he shouldn’t have been allowed near a steering wheel yet she jumped on the opportunity to be with him. Thinking of it has made me sick. I don’t want to go to that school or be forced to watch them chew each other’s lips. Does she also giggle after they kiss? The sound of the door opening rips through the silence and I bury my face into the pillow. Jonah jumps into my bed and I groan. I thought he left for work already. He’s interning at some place. There is a two years gap between both of us but he acts like a kid sometimes. I slap his hand off me but he only hugs me tighter. This is just weird. I can’t even get a break on my second day of exile. Thankfully, today is Friday. Two more days and I&rsqu

If you love someone, let them go. If they ever loved you, they will find their way back to you. I think that quote is stupid. I think whoever invented it is more stupid.  Why would you ever let someone you love go? Most importantly, why am I thinking about someone I want to forget? I turn and toss on the bed. It’s not working. I can’t sleep. I throw the covers off me and sit on the edge of the bed. It’s a few minutes past 5 in the morning and my alarm is set to ring at 6. Flipping the bedside lamp on, I turn off my alarm and dial Maria’s number. The call rings without interruption. She must have given up on me and I don’t blame her. There’s only so much a person can take. I haven’t called her since I moved here. I trace the shadow cast on the bed by the lamp. My chest constricts when her voicemail message comes up.  The silence that follows has my thoughts jumping at me. I sit up and hug my knees to my chest. To get away from the voices in m

I am grounded. I haven’t been in the house for up to a day and I am already grounded. The good part is, my room is big. So that’s something. But they took my phone. That’s how upset my parents are, mostly Daddy.It’s the evening of day two of being grounded and I am slowly losing it. I walk around the room. A second later, I return to lying face down on my bed. I hate this punishment. I am allowed to leave the room but when all I will see are my parents’ judgy eyes, I will rather be in here bored out of my mind. My eyes close, the next thing I am waking up to is Mum at the door. Her smile is not as happy. Well, yeah, I am not happy with her either. Light filters in through the crack of the windows and I rub the back of my eyes. Today is Monday. Monday is school. I will have to deal with a brooding Calum again. “Tessa, you will be late. Your daddy’s ready.”I groan into the pillow and kick the air

Nobody remembered my birthday. I know I have been acting like I don’t care about it but it’s not enough reason to forget it. Mum didn’t remember, Daddy didn’t too. We left for school extra early today, throughout the ride I kept expecting him to pull up on me with a surprise but nothing. Even Benny forgot it. School was extremely boring for me. During lunch hour, I was barely chatty. Ben either didn’t notice or he didn’t care. I couldn’t be mad at the band because they didn’t know my date of birth but my supposedly perfect boyfriend didn’t remember. I don’t like him so much right now. I don’t like how he’s staring at me. Ben pinches my nose to elicit a reaction from me but all I give him is a sneer. Even that doesn’t bother him.His arm hangs outside the car, head pokes outside so the sun is shining on his face. I slap his leg for no reason and he lets out an exaggerated gr

Ben got into NYU. We are going to NYU together. The excitement is too much for my body to contain. I continue jumping on the bed while Ben tries to convince me to ‘behave’. I don’t think he understands. We will go to NYU. We will get great jobs. We will get married. We will have kids. We will be together, forever. He should also be jumping. “Gracie, stop,” he says for the umpteenth time.I stop long enough for him to carry me into his arms. My lips are on his in seconds, pouring out the words I couldn’t say. I didn’t know he applied to my school. I have the best boyfriend ever.Something falls out of the torn envelope while I am trying to tuck in his acceptance letter into it. I hold the charm to my eyes and an instant grin breaks out on my lips. Without being told, I know the NYU charm is for my memory bracelet. More memories. We will create new and better memories in NYU.“What about SAS?” I as