And he didn't know whether it was the raw intensity of her gaze or how her gaze struggled between meeting his and staying glued to her table, but the girl with the black hair and emerald eyes made his heart skip.
~Hayden Keating.

And if she wasn't so distracted by the perfection that was Hayden, transfixed by everything he did and said, she'd question her fading sanity.

~ Raven Stone.

Raven stone, dubbed most beautiful girl in West hill by the townfolk, is a girl who treasures silence but craves attention,  detached from the world but harbours a sincere kindness in her heart.

When poor, innocent looking Hayden Keating comes walking through the doors of her class for the first time, something stirs in Raven. 

For some reason, she sees beyond his rumpled clothes and worn out shoes, and what she finds there leaves her helplessly overwhelmed.

Hayden knows from the first time he sees the raven haired, emerald-eyed girl that she's way out of his league. However, he just can't convince his eyes to stray away from her, his heart to stop seeking hers and his mind to stop replaying every little detail about her.

An unusual pair, brought together by the irresistible need to exchange words, to share thoughts, to hold, to discover, to possess, to love.

For their love wasn't one written in the texts, analysed and scrutinised for the world to see.

It was more sacred, a secret shared between trembling hearts that sought solace in one another. It was overcoming the fear of loosing themselves, their identities in one another, the lingering touches, the smiles that couldn't be hidden, and the feeling of finding home.

The pauper's girl

The amount of fear that consumed Hayden. 


As he walked towards where Tyler was, hands still linked in Raven's, he could feel his surroundings blur out. 


His senses had become duller yet sharper, focused on one thing and negligent to all else. 


He'd drowned out the murmurs and blocked his sight from everyone and everything else. 


The only thing he could focus on was Tyler, and the crippling fear the sight of the guy brought him. 


He was suddenly in the bathroom stall again, screaming as blow after blow was pounded into his abdomen. 


He was begging again, crying for them to stop. 


The image of Tyler hit different, with the knowledge of what the guy could do, and would do. 


And even though there'd been no explanation of why he'd been beaten that day, Hayden couldn't think of a single thing about him that could warrant envy, except his relationship with Raven. 


XVIII• TYLER