In this romance book for teens, Dylan and Dahlia were complete opposites, but opposites attract , right? Not in this case. Dahlia’s hopelessly in love, whilst Dylan couldn’t care less. Dahlia’s parents make everything worse, her trip was her only getaway. When she returns and tries to escape, the sad love story of Dylan and Dahlia takes an unexpected turn.
Excerpt:
“I’ll love you forever!” She screamed across the quad as everyone stopped and stared. Well, let’s just get this straight, this isn’t a happy love story, it’s the saddest one there’s ever been. Dahlia was just a person with the life no one ever wanted, although a lot of people wanted her. She had medium black hair that faded into blonde, many piercings, the face that many people dreamed of having, and she was in high school. She was asked out many times, but her eyes were on one person, Dylan. He was around Dahlia’s height, he was a few months older, and had brown hair. No matter how hard Dahlia tried, he never loved her back. She had abusive parents that hated her more than anything in this world. Now you know the basics, just remember, I warned you.
“Girl, you need to give up,” said Tasha, Dahlia’s best friend.
“ Yeah I should, but it’s too hard. For the past eight years, he is the only person I’ve ever wanted, ever needed,” replied Dahlia.
“You sound cringe,” Evie, her other bestie, said while staring at her phone.
“ Leave her alone, let’s go home Dal” Adelynn, another bestie, replied.
“Alright,” Dahlia said as she started walking to her house with Adelynn.
When Adelynn left, Dahlia thought about how much her life sucked. Another day of hell, how fun, she thought. She slowly walked in through the door when a shoe was thrown at her. Luckily she dodged it.
“WHERE WERE YOU, YOU’RE TEN MINUTES LATE!” Screamed her mom.
“THERE ARE DISHES IN THE SINK GO CLEAN THEM!” Yelled her dad as he slapped her harshly.
Dahlia fell on the floor, as tears streamed down her face. She quickly got up and cleaned the dishes before running into her room and bursting into tears.
“What did I do to deserve this!” She sobbed.
She cried herself to sleep. She couldn’t bear it anymore. All the bruises and marks all over her from the abuse, her only medicine was seeing Dylan, even if he didn’t want to see her.
When she woke up the next morning, she hurriedly ran to school so she didn’t have to face her parents. The moment she walked in, she saw Dylan.
“Dylan!” Shouted Dahlia. ”Hey, do you wanna hang out after school?”
“How many times have I told you, I don’t like you, leave me alone.” He replied with a slight tone of frustration.
“No, I just wanna hang out as friends,” She said as she held his arm.
“NO, LEAVE ME THE HECK ALONE!” He shouted as he jerked his arm away from her.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she was used to it, she didn’t let them escape, she wouldn’t, not in front of Dylan.
“Well I guess right now is not a good time,” Dahlia said as she walked away.
“Bro you need to stop being so harsh,” Dylan’s friend, Isaac, said.
“Then you tell her to stop annoying me,” Dylan replied, rolling his eyes.
“Give me one good reason,” Isaac said.
“Why the heck should I, just do it” Dylan reluctantly replied.
Dahlia sat down on the bench and put her airpods in to listen to music. He’s being such an I- her thoughts were interrupted when Emma came up and said, “ How many times have I told you to stop sulking over that loser, he’s got such a huge head and ego, what the heck do you see in him?”
“I don’t know, we used to be best friends, guess that's what made me like him,” Dahlia said sadly.
Dahlia and Dylan used to be best friends back in elementary school, but when she confessed in middle school, he ignored her. She tried so hard to talk to him but he didn’t want to see her. Then from there, this happened.
“What do I do?” She sobbed.
“Girl what’d she just tell you to do,” Said Tasha out of nowhere.
“Shut up, leave me alone for now,” Dahlia said as she resumed the song.
After five periods, it finally came to the sixth period with Dylan, which was obviously her favorite period. When she walked in, Dylan was already seated. When he saw her, he rolled his eyes. She sat next to him.
“Hey!” Dahlia said enthusiastically.
“Shut up, you're just my partner, I don’t have to talk to you,” replied Dylan.
“Alright class, I will group you with your partners for the project,” said the teacher.
God, I hope he will be my partner. Oh my god! I would explode with joy if that happened! Dahlia thought.
“ Alright we have Emma and Emily, Linh and Raynen, Evie and Bryden, Tasha and Kyle, Landon and Ava, and lastly we have Dylan and Dahlia,” said the teacher, reading off the list.
“WHAT, NO!” shouted Dylan at the same time as Dahlia shouted,” HECK YEAH!