New Dawn
By @Carl
In the golden, dial-up glow of 2004, fifteen-year-old Damon hides a fracturing world behind his relentlessly cheerful smile. Desperate to escape his crumbling home life and the crushing pressure of his parents' impending divorce, he lives to keep everyone else happy. Then, at a regional high school leadership summit, he meets sixteen-year-old Harper Collins. Fiercely guarded and unapologetically real, Harper sees right through Damon’s sunny facade. When they are paired up for a weekend project, an electric connection sparks between them, fueled by late-night instant messenger chats and shared mixtapes. But Damon's desperate need to please everyone - and his sheer terror of vulnerability - threatens to destroy the first genuine bond he has ever forged. As the weekend ends and reality closes in, Damon must choose between maintaining his perfect, exhausting mask or risking it all to let Harper see the broken, hopeful boy underneath. Can a fragile first love survive the harsh light of a new dawn?
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