Razor Blades Sheathed in Velvet – by Zelda C. Thorne

Eleven voice messages. The first three are garbled, vicious insults interspersed with begrudging apology and admissions of profound, earth-shattering love. Nathan’s voice cracks, wounded.

Split – by Jay McKenzie

She looks beyond the fire to the flat surface of the lake. There is little in the way of moon and stars tonight, but lights from the lodge on the opposite shore glimmer on the water’s skin. In her eyes, the dancing amber flames ripple.

The Weight of My Own Voice – by Finnian Burnett

“We saw you look,” the girls’ voices echo in my head as I run out of school, all the way home, panting and crying by the time I reach the front door and, “Boys don’t go to dances with fat girls,” my dad tells me.

Don’t Be A Beethoven – by Allie Guilderson

Listening to Morgan playing through her pieces, I began to feel that familiar jealousy creepy into my stomach.

Upstream – by Ramona Eloise

When I was fourteen—no, thirteen (gee, maybe even earlier?), the chronic pain began.