𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏. 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓 ( also this one IS getting published so the warning is irrelevant )

'didn't anyone ever tell you you're an ass, sweetheart?'

Charis Forrester is trying to hold on. Trying to hold on to anything she can, really. The poor thing hated change, and growing up was proving more complicated than it should. Everything in Charis' world was changing, from realizing she's not into the same bands any more to noticing that she spent a lot of her past doing things or making decisions she wouldn't have now and wishing she could have that time back. She's never felt accepted, realizing that she isn't anybody's 'favorite person'. Charis feels adrift in the ocean, waiting to be saved by a passing cruise ship. Her over-competitive, athletic family doesn't help her much either: an artist and an intellectual in a house full of athletic, sports loving baboons. Of course, she can't hold it against T.J, who has never been anything but nice to her. But her parents, who've played blissfully into believing that Charis is fine and normal, as well as inadvertently becoming the reason she became a lorazepam addict? Hell yeah, she's holding that against them.

Nate Macauley had to grow up too quickly. His mother needed psychiatric care, and he had to deal with his mother's mental health as well as his father's alcoholism at a very early age. Now, he's a playboy delinquent with nothing going for him except a job as a full - time drug dealer. If he can stay out of jail. Charis is one of his clients, reliant on a hefty dose of lorazepam to keep her emotions and her anxiety under control. Sure, he feels guilty about being the reason the bookworm-artist-archetype became an addict, but he's not about to let a payday slip out of his fingers, especially since Charis is friends with the one and only Simon Kelleher, who's been making Bayview's teenagers gossip-hungry mongrels with nothing better to do with their lives than judge other people and be assholes about it.

Fate is a funny thing. One could call it a coincidence that both teenagers found themselves in the same alleyway on a dark California night. Fate? Perhaps. Neither of them actually expected to witness an underworld gang murder behind a sketchy-ass tanning salon. I mean, why would they? But Charis and Nate were exactly where they needed to be at just the right time, even if they almost got each other killed in the process.

Now, both teens are running for their lives after a drug deal going bad leads to the two becoming witnesses to murder. Not only is the criminal underworld not far behind, Nate and Charis, dealer and addict, both have too much at stake to be found by the police.

starring olivia de jonge as charis forrester

cooper van grootel as nate macauley

and a supporting cast including logan lermon chase stokes ( even though i KNOW they recasted his character due to scheduling conflicts between oouil and obx- ) as tj, jaz sinclair, mark mckenna, emmy raver lampman, ted levine ( buffalo bill from 'silence of the lambs' ) dax sheppard, and jacob elordi

EXTRA NOTES!

LOOK AT THESE PERFECT GIFS I MADE:

- listen to coffee at midnight by stand atlantic for the best experience, i feel like it kind of encompasses the entire thing

- charis! is! baby!

- this has been in my drafts since i finished the book last summer, no joke, it was originally going to be called rock is dead

Here's a little peek at what Simon Kellher has to say about our sweet baby Charis:

CF spotted getting cozy with JR, the coach's son, for all you uneducated minks. But not the one that you're all thinking of. Not the one that watches Attack on Titan and wears the ugliest graphic tees that Wal-Mart sells. He's too nerdy for Bayview's punk rock princess. Sorry, former punk rock princess.

I mean the one who studies business at Harvard on scholarship. The surfer boy womanizer who used to make all the underclassmen swoon. Well, underclass women, mostly. I wonder how TF feels about his twin cozying up to- and likely getting some- from an older man. But of course, TF has some of his own relationship skeletons, like his supposed summer fling with AP. So he really can't judge dear C, can he?

and yes, the mysterious 'JR' will be played by logan lermon-

𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐏. 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐑𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐁𝐘 𝐌𝐄, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐑, 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐈 𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐏 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐌 𝐎𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓