Betrothed to Jack Frost (NOW A PUBLISHED SERIES!)

1) Reality Bites

"A reader lives a thousand lives before they die. The man who never reads lives only one.' - George R. R. Martin
"Full Moon" by the Black Ghosts
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A jarring alarm roused the twenty-year-old Elle Darrow from her slumber; she groaned as she struggled to bury herself deeper under her pillow. There was nothing good prepared for this Tuesday. She had two part-time jobs to get to, and not to mention, a ten-page essay to come up with and edit for class by Friday. Even though the project was given to her a few weeks ago, Elle had majorly procrastinated. Just thinking about the project is what drove Elle to dig herself out of bed to sit up and swipe the sleep from her eyes.

"If it's not good, you get a C," she reminded herself, pulling out of bed before stretching. Her legs and side hurt; a repercussion of spending her time wearing roller skates for the fifties themed diner she worked at. Elle fell over twice yesterday, courtesy of an eight-year-old spilling her soda all over the restaurant as she walked. Mopping a floor in roller skates was a near nightmare after that. She didn't have a choice but to wear them while cleaning; the skates were a mandatory part of the uniform, unfortunately. The daunting thought of receiving a C as a grade was Elle's biggest nightmare. It's what caused her to jump out of bed. She would lose her partial scholarship if she achieved such a grade. Receiving a B-minus was no good either, causing Elle to realize she needed to get herself together if she were to come up with a dazzling yet well- written essay to present Professor Dodger by Monday. She needed to be on her best game academically. The thought of just staying in bed and catching more than just six hours of sleep seemed more ideal than going to work if Elle were truly honest with herself.

Sometimes, Elle just wanted to sit in bed and let life pass by for the day. She was always so very busy. She didn't have a social life in all the years since her father died. She instead morphed herself into a hard worker academically. Her time nowadays was spent either working or writing short stories or essays in a bid to win a partial scholarship to pay for the other half of her college education. Her free periods were spent helping her grandmother run her nursery garden. Even though it was January, all the plants in the greenhouses needed proper care before they would be full-grown by Mother's Day.

Elle dressed in her hideous orange and white checkered knee-length dress, and applied minimal makeup. Glancing at herself in the mirror, she felt she'd seen better days. Her big brown eyes held dark circles under them while her usually creamy-toned complexion looked pale. This was probably due to lack of sun. With it being winter, Elle hadn't seen much of the sun anyhow. A ramification was that she now resembled a perfect walking cliché of possessing too pale of skin and too dark of eyes.

After brushing her long dark hair into submission, Elle tied it in a loose ponytail and then contemplated how busy her day was going to be. It was only seven in the morning. By eight, she had to be at Checkers & Spades for her breakfast shift, and then she had classes to get to by noon.

After three classes that would end by seven that night, she had to be back at her grandmother's to save what was left of the new seedlings. A horrible thunderstorm that turned to ice had come in two months ago to wipe out all the good stock. If Elle and her grandparents didn't work around-the-clock now to keep what was left, they'd have nothing. If there was any hope of salvaging the remaining plants, Elle had to help work to ensure their survival. It wasn't easy. Some nights, Elle found herself using battery operated sun lights to keep the plants warm.

"Evangeline, dear! Aiden's here to drive you," Grace Darrow called, causing Elle to hurry.

Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she shoved two remaining books on her desk into her bag before she ran out the door. Elle didn't have time to dwell over her unwritten essay just yet, there was far too much to do today. As she hurried down the stairs, Elle already knew a cup of coffee and a bagel would be handed to her no matter how much she protested she didn't want breakfast. Her grandparents were old-fashioned farmers. They believed in having a breakfast every day or you would be off to a bad start.