All We Are

Dedication:

To My Darkness and Light, Who Showed Me That There Was More Compassion In My Heart Than I Could Ever Imagine Existing.

You Changed Me, And I Will Always Love You.

*****

Synopsis:

He was your typical complicated entitled high school boy, to put it shortly. He went through life without a care in the world. He drank, he smoked, he partied, and he used girls. He loved the game of chasing the good girl though, and that good girl just happened to be his long time friend Rose Holland.

But his game finally backfired on him, he had finally met his match.

All those years, while Rose dealt with James, trying to prevent him from destroying himself, she was also dealing with someone who was much more intense. A different boy, who was once her friend, fell in love with her too, but his love turned into obsession. When Rose couldn't return his love her hurt her, physically and emotionally.

He abused her, and it resulted in severe anxiety disorder, so she ran away.

She moved away for a whole year. She spent her time there busy with school, busy with therapy, and busy with trying to fix herself. Living with anxiety destroyed her everyday, and that whole year it never seemed to go away or lessen. She became a cynic.

Rose remained pessimistic, broken, and haunted, until one day her therapist suggested that she return to her home in Gresham. At first she said hell no, but then she suddenly found herself looking forward to seeing her parents, and her best friend, and of course James.

While Rose was gone, James finally did it. He destroyed himself, and he almost took someone else with him.

James was never one to understand feelings, let alone love. The only love he believed in was the love he had for himself. He even believed that in order to fall in love with someone, you had to fall in love with yourself first. Over time he had learned to hate Rose, to hate her for leaving him.

When Rose returned home, her best friend Sarah seemed like the same person, but soon she realized just how wrong she was. Sarah was completely different. She was more poised, more focussed, more grown up. James was grown up, and he wasn't thrilled about Rose being back.

But aside from making other friends, including the whole football team, and two girls who welcomed her as family, Rose met the school's bad boy named Blake Adams, who ultimately saved her from quite a few things, actually.

*****
Enjoy!