Novels by StarsAndEcstasy

Jackie had never been a scaredy-cat. In fact, having said yes with enthusiasm before her mom could have stopped her, she'd once held a tarantula along the length of her arm at some zoo in Texas when they were on vacation. She had watched in fascination, as it mounted her arm and tickled her skin with its hairy legs. Her mom, of course, hadn't been the least pleased—she'd barely restrained herself from yanking the arachnid away.There were worse things than spiders. Seeing Melanie bring an eyeliner pencil dangerously close to her eyeball helped her reach that conclusion.

Jackie settled into a random seat near the windows in first period, sneaking glances at all the people piling in at the last minute. She saw familiar faces after another—though, she wasn't surprised—Riverview High held a small occupancy with around 200 as her graduating class and 1200 students in total. Everyone knew each other since they were in kindergarten, so there was hardly a new face she didn't recognize."I knew it!" A voice from the right of her exclaimed with a certain excitement.She shook her head out of her daydream, and looked over at a very familiar face as her own split into a smile."Mel!" she almost let out a squeal, reaching across the small space to give the familiar girl a hug.Melanie Anderson was one of Jackie's childhood friends she remained consistently close with despite everyone around them splitting up into their own respective groups. The girl wore her medium-length strawberry blonde hair up in a ballerina bun and

"Twenty seconds and counting," Liam announced.Jackie, whose hands were busy fixing her already immaculate curls, shot him a glare."Are you timing me?"He shrugged, returning his gaze to the road. "Just checking how long it takes for you to fix your damn hair."With an exaggerated huff, Jackie gathered her hair into a high ponytail—the usual—for some reason, the idea of attempting another hairstyle and the whole process to go completely haywire scared her. She looked at her reflection in the tiny mirror in the car's sun visor."Do I look like I slept an entire eight hours or am I just lacking caffeine?" she asked, sparing an inquisitive glance at him."You and I both know it's the second," Liam said. A ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. "You're incapable of staying unconscious for more than four hours."She stuck out her tongue at him, giving her ponytail one last final tug."At least I'm productive

"I'm calling the Fashion Police."Jackie wheeled around in her chair to face her best friend who had his eyes glued to the mirror in front of him. He was loosening his tie for the seventh time which was approximately how many times she looked back at him. Must be nerves for tonight."Why? Am I that dashing?"She folded her arms across her chest. "Oh please, leave that to men like Zayn Malik.""You know I'm a hundred times better than him," he scoffed.Sighing, she lifted herself up from the office chair, a cloud of dust wafting from lack of use, and made her way towards him."Liam Patel," she said in a fake-stern tone, standing behind him as they both gazed at their reflection in the mirror. She could barely make out her head from his broad, tall frame. "What are you doing? Your suit is getting all wrinkled.""What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied distractedly, abandoning his tie to nervously toy with the sleeves of h

*t h e n“Eliot.”She pressed the button on her old iPhone before he had the chance to realize what was happening. There, in the second before his grin faltered back into his trademark smirk, she snapped a photo.“Aren’t you supposed to ask before you do that, Sánchez?”On her screen, the image of Eliot reflected back at her - curious almond-shaped eyes narrowed, toothy smile donned, night sky eyes creased, the ghostly shadow of a curl hanging in his face. This was the image of him she most appreciated - the one where he didn’t hold back, didn’t mask anything. It was a rare sight. She'd treasure it forever, within the private haven of her chest.“You looked too happy not to,” Maddison explained, dropping her focus from photo-Eliot to real-Eli