Momma Jokes

I came to this new school with one goal—stay invisible. No drama. No chaos. Just finish the semester and get out. But everything changed the moment I laid eyes on him—Aiden Cross. Rich, arrogant, dangerously charming. The school's golden boy and certified heartbreaker. He had no business looking at me, let alone touching me. And yet, there he was, lips still warm from kissing another girl, smirking as he walked straight toward me… and pulled me into his world with one simple, cocky line: “Care to join?” From that moment on, my plan to stay out of trouble was officially ruined. Now, I’m skipping school, arguing with him like we’ve known each other for years, sharing moments I swore I’d never allow, and feeling things I can't ignore. But Aiden? He hides behind jokes and a player reputation—brushing off anything real like it’s just another game. He’s everything I told myself to avoid. So why does my heart race every time he’s near? Between surprise kisses in the cafeteria, his jealousy-fueled fights, and our late-night talks that cut deeper than I ever expected, I’m starting to realize one thing: Sometimes the person you least expect becomes the one you can’t let go. But can I trust him with my heart? Or will he leave me like he does everyone else. He was supposed to be my nightmare. Now… he might just be my love story.

In Black Salt, love is a sickness you can’t hide—a slow gnawing beneath the skin that leaves you hollowed, grayed, and eventually gone. No one stays long enough to see it through; they leave before the rot finishes its work. It’s what the town teaches you: when it starts, you run. You look away. You survive by pretending not to feel. But Atlas is tired of pretending. The halls of Black Salt High are full of kids pretending they don’t see each other’s bruised hearts, pretending their bones aren’t already whispering warnings. Still, he can’t forget the weight of a father who stayed—not out of love, but because he never felt it deep enough to decay. That truth lingers in Atlas like a second shadow. And then there’s Nova—the outsider with a storm in her bones. And Wren, all sharpness and fight. Milo, who cracks jokes to keep the silence at bay. Luce, who wears her thorns like jewelry. Together, they don’t know how to stop the rot. But they’re learning how to sit with it, how to name it, how to refuse the small, hollow deaths of pretending not to care. In a town where love is a death sentence, staying might be the bravest thing of all.

At first, I thought life was so easy but as the years had passed, I realized that life is obnoxious, specially for those poor who pray every day to win in a lottery. Since I was a kid, I already had carried a big responsibility in my arms, sometimes making me question myself whether I was born to live happily or the other way around. My mom and father had a divorce when I was a kid, and unluckily, she made me choose between her and papa. And now, too bad but I regretted nothing. On that day, I chose my dad, and never in million of years would I become jealous to my sister (who had chosen mom) just because she is rich and can buy anything she wants. I was used at buying my only basic needs, securing the rest of my money for future because I know I will still be the only one who can benefit at the end. I was just living peacefully, without having any regrets and doubts, but there is a man named Spencer whose arrogance could reach the planet Jupiter. And I can't deny he got the looks that made everyone to flicker after him. But never in million years would I become fluttered just because of silly and corny jokes from him. But I became tongue-tied for predicting everything. Because I was wrong for judging him like that.