Based on a true story. Teen fiction.
Written: November 2017

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Lana Angel thought in word pictures. Where most people saw breath-taking artwork, Lana saw a story behind the painting. A single trip to L. A. spurred a few stories based off of the pictures she saw in a museum.

Even now, sitting next to the boy she's loved from afar for the last three years, she's painting him in words in her mind, letting all the words she hears drip from his mouth pour over her mind in a refreshing word-fall. She imagines each word as a drop of color. A word here, his high cheekbones. There, his chocolate eyes that look like pools she could swim in. Words fall and his unblemished brown skin comes to life.

"Stop staring at me," Jaden tells Lana, annoyed.

She jumps, having kind of forgotten she was staring. "Sorry," she mumbles, trying to fight the smile creeping up on her face. It was the first time he'd caught her staring, but she found she didn't really mind.

Cara sat next to her. She'd been Lana's friend since kindergarten. "How's the writing coming?"

Jaden rolled his eyes. "Writing? You couldn't write a real book."

Lana sat up straighter. "How about you read something I've written?"

"Why would I? I only read real books, like the Divergent trilogy." He took a bite of his lunch, eyeing Lana to see her reaction.

She simply let the words roll off of her. "You'll see one day."

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When Lana got home, she immediately went to her computer and turned it on. While she sat and waited for it to load, she pulled out her journal and began writing about what happened at lunch and about Jaden and finding herself a little more endeared to him, despite his comments.

She knew that it wasn't the best idea to let her heart take over so much, but she couldn't help it. It was almost like her heart had taken the reins a long time ago and all she could do was sit back and watch things unfold. She wanted nothing more than for him to ask her out.

Once her computer was loaded, she pulled up the story she'd been working on for a month and began typing. It was one of those stories that just flowed out of her and onto the page. She felt it in every part of her as she typed out her alter ego and sent her on a crazy adventure through the streets of Boulder, Colorado.

At first, she didn't know she was basing the character off of herself, but after a few chapters she did and went with it. She wove a little bit of Jaden into one of the other main characters, the one who made her character happy. The best thing about writing the story herself was that she could make them do whatever she wanted, which was fall in love.

She wasn't able to work on the story for long before feeling sad. It reminded her of everything she didn't have.

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A/N: Sorry for how awkward this chapter feels, but sometimes I have trouble stating stories and this is one of them. I promise this will get better. :) This one is going to be short with short(ish) chapters because this one is kind of a speed one I'm doing in my free time.