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Everyone wants to be a hero. That’s the truth of it. People

would see Adalynn as the opposite. They wouldn’t understand.

She cringed to think of the terrible things people would say.

She could turn off the comments to her video, but she already

knew she wouldn’t do it. She wouldn’t read them but turning

off comments seemed like the cowardly thing to do. People

would feel like she was taking the easy way out or trying to

get the last word in, and that wasn’t what she wanted. If her

life, the things she said in that video, and all the things she’d

learned along the way, could help or inspire someone else,

then it was worth it.

In the end, she was just trying to do what everyone else was

trying to do—navigate the rough waters of life the best she

could.

She knew what she wanted and if she had to give up

everything to get it, then she would. She didn’t want the

greatest and most wonderful opportunity she’d ever been

given to dissolve before her eyes.

Adalynn’s hand curled around her mouse. She started

clicking and then she started posting.

After it was done, she shut off her computer and went

downstairs to the kitchen. She started the coffee and threw

eggs into the frying pan. She wasn’t at all surprised to hear the

steps creak and groan as Cassia emerged. She was an early

riser. By all accounts, she hadn’t slept well. She hadn’t

bothered with brushing her hair or changing—she was still in

the black tank top and pajama shorts she’d slept in. Adalynn

would normally have been distracted by all that creamy skin,

the sleek, shapely limbs, the way that tank hugged Cassia’s

rounded breasts with absolutely no bra beneath. She would