As Perceived by Crystellen Treasure

“Life just hasn’t been the same for Losten Deforest since someone saved his. Or, for any of the rest of us, for that matter. And that someone wasn’t just anyone, it was my sister Em. It was great that she saved him, as good as it is that no one should die in a car wreck. But, doesn’t she think it’s kind of odd that the guy she saved just happened to wind up in her college class?”

This is stupid, I thought. I shut my diary and placed it at the bottom of my desk drawer. Why am I writing my thoughts down here? This is something that you do when you’re little. I mean, it’s great Mom and Dad gave it to me when I was five, but I’m not sure how it’s going to help me sort through how I feel now. But Mom sent me to my room, so here I sit.

This sucks, I thought, as I leaned my elbows against my desk and pressed my palms against my forehead. I hate being the odd girl out. Emerys and Cat are super close and our mother’s a lot like both of them. Why do I have to be the odd sister out? Nobody seems to understand me? They all claim I’m rebellious because I’m a teenager, as if I haven’t learned how to control my emotions by now. After all, I’ve been a teenager for twenty years.