I was raised in a conservative Christian family. Ever since I was little my father had told me and my brother and sister that we had to do everything by God, that His way was the only way. My father was afraid of anything different from him, whether it be another religion, race, or even ideas. Every Sunday morning was spent in a church pew, and if my siblings or I even thought about drugs or sex before marriage we were sure to be disowned.

We attended Saint Mary's, a prestigious Christian school that assured kids one of the best educations in the country.

I was quiet, mostly preferring to keep to myself. I didn't have any friends at all, being terrified of my peers.

That is, until I met Lia.

Cecelia Bromstreg was bold and daring, always walking down the halls with her head held high. She didn't care what others thought of her, and therefore captivated any who crossed her path.

My father would have never approved of her as a friend. Lia was raised by a single mother who didn't know who the father was. She was not religiously oriented; she simply went to Saint Mary's in hopes of going to Dartmouth. But, regardless, we became friends.

She danced her way through the boys at school, from the jocks to the outcasts. Each one I hated and envied passionately. At the moment she was dating Matthew Herts, the president of the Student Council.

She was everything I wasn't. And I was in love with her the moment I saw her.