the Loner in the Static (The Misfit Files)

"New city. New school. Same suffocating skin."

Peyton Pieters thought graduation would be an escape—a chance to leave the "loser" label behind in a rearview mirror full of high school ghosts. But the local party school isn't the fresh start he imagined. It’s just a louder, drunker version of the same cage.

While everyone else is busy chasing the next high, Peyton is still his own worst enemy. He’s caught between the girl he can’t forget and the new distractions that offer a temporary numbing agent for his cynicism. Amber still wants him, and April is a beautiful mystery he doesn't know how to solve, but Peyton is starting to realize that you can’t love anyone else when you’re still trying to survive yourself.