To this day, he was a mess, a shell of his former self, and did his best to thwart any of my attempts at being normal. I didn’t have a car and wasn't allowed to get one even though I had turned eighteen at the start of the month.

Strict in the extreme, some of my father's rules included no drinking, partying, sleepovers, smoking, candles in my bedroom, and even though I had never had a boy vie for my affection, dating was also a big no-no.

Dad said that he was trying to protect me, and in a way, I knew that was true. But I also knew deep down inside that he was ashamed of me. Of how I looked and of the fact that he would never raise a normal daughter.

Returning to Ocean Bay was the very last thing he wanted to do, and we both knew it. Coming home wasn't exactly a walk in the park for me either.

We had moved away right after the fire, specifically to be closer to the specialist doctors and burn unit dealing with my injuries. Many months spent in the hospital, not to mention countless skin grafts and surgeries, meant that I had lost contact with everyone from back home.

Months had turned into years, and before I knew it, I was almost sixteen years old and my childhood had passed me by.

I wanted my life back.

I wanted to put down roots again.

Most of all, I wanted to be closer to Mama and Bobby.

At the time, I figured I could do all of that here in Ocean Bay.

Fast forward a little more than two years later, and the only thing I had managed to achieve since returning to my hometown was to spend an ornate amount of time at my family's plot in the cemetery.

At least Mama and Bobby had fresh flowers most days.

Of all the places to let myself dwell on the fire, school was not it. I could not afford to loosen the armor I had bound tightly around my heart. Especially not when I was currently standing in the middle of the shark tank; aka The Academy.

Ocean Bay Academy was the elite – not to mention private – high school in our equally elite and uber wealthy town of Ocean Bay, Florida.

Unfortunately for me, my father was one of the uber wealthy, resulting in his only child being a reluctant student at OBA.

My dislike of The Academy didn’t mean that I longed to attend one of the local public schools instead. It simply meant that I didn’t want to attend school, period. I would have much preferred to be homeschooled.

Being back in my home town felt like punishment rather than redemption like I had hoped. During my countless stays in the hospital, I had dreamed about returning to my friends and familiarity. I had prayed for a second chance at life – another chance to go home and see my best friend again. The boy that consumed my every waking hour since as far back as I could remember.