Lydia McKenzie used to be just like any other normal, seventeen year old high school girl, fretting over what to wear for school, struggling to get good grades and dealing with boy trouble, until one day, a dangerous incident at school and a severe brain injury, made her turn off her emotions completely. Three years later, she’s a complete robot who works with utmost efficiency without showing any emotions. But things start to change when she arrives at Rosewater University for higher studies. David Lyric Donovan is the quintessential bad boy of Rosewater. Be it getting into useless fights, getting arrested for beating someone to an inch of their life or any other crimes around campus, and not to mention going through girls like a person goes through their clothes, he’s done it all. He’s also a professional street fighter. Girls want to ‘fix’ him and guys want to be him. But nothing bothers him as much as the presence of the new girl, Lydia. She’s upfront and outspoken and she does not have the patience to deal with his shit, and moreover, she gets under his skin without even a slight change in her expression. Who is she and what’s in her past? He’s just as fascinated with her as he is annoyed. Can romance bloom between such a mismatched pair? And will Lydia ever let herself feel again, after what she’d endured?

Chapter 1 Prologue

Lydia’s P.O.V

Some instances in life change you forever.

For me, that moment became a life or death situation. I was able to get one last look at Roy’s face as the bullet left his gun. He didn’t want this. He hadn’t wanted any of this. But we had forced him into this situation. How much can a person be pushed until he bursts. How much anxiety, how much humiliation can lead a person to the very edge that the only way out is to take a life? Trust me; I hadn’t wanted to find the answer…not like this. I didn’t see my life flash before my eyes; but I saw my brother’s face. Stephen and Nathan would be sad. My mother would be devastated.

And my dad? He would rip the world apart. If only I hadn’t supported my best friends who bullied Roy and countless others like him. If only I had stopped them from being so mean. If only I had shown Roy and the others some kind of mental support to let them know I wasn’t a part of this. If only…

It's funny how we think of consequences only when we face them and not when we do something wrong. The world is round and what goes around will eventually come around. I didn't know if I was going to come out of this alive, as I pushed my friend out of the way and took his hit, but if I survived, I would do better. Today, Lydia McKenzie will die forever. And if I survived, a new Lydia will be born; someone who will never again stand back and watch as another life was lost to the teenage dramas of high school and all the burdens that came with it.