He watched as a single figure headed toward the bus. New stop? Jake looked out his window at the estate with a circular drive. The over-filled bus pulled to a stop midway down Belmont Circle. They’d sit three to a seat rather than make that request. None dared to ask if they could sit in the empty space next to him. Jake leaned back in his seat and folded his arms across his chest, not looking at the kids coming down the aisle. This bus collected the underclassmen: those few who weren’t chauffeured, as minions of the privileged. Upperclassmen from this neighborhood had their own cars. The bus snaked its way through the country roads, and then to the lavish development that backed up to the woods behind his house. Is he strong enough to help the one he loves weave sense into her crumbling new reality while overcoming his own tainted past? Jake’s romantic histories with the girl next door and the school’s queen bee, adds tension to a simmering tempest when all he wants is Brie. Unfortunately, now there is competition: the captain of her cross-country team. Jake has his own secrets and has built his own walls, but eventually his curiosity about the new girl gets the best of him. A newly compassionate Jake has finally taken an interest in her, but can Brie learn to trust her heart, or will she miss out on the best thing that ever happened to her?

After a humiliating article and picture of Brie is posted in the online school journal, a demon she thought she’d overcome resurfaces, and her life unravels. Brie is targeted by a group of popular girls at her new school, and the only available seat on her bus is next to the school’s star wide receiver, Jake, who for some reason, finds her offensive. When Brie’s stepfather moves the family for what he calls a new beginning, it’s not the new beginning she would have hoped for.

Sublime Karma by Peyton Garver