Will It Ever Get Better?: Woodview Stories, #2

By Ian Rose Castro

Jo Reilly has dealt with a lot of big changes lately. She's sharing a room with a surprise half-sister, her parents are always fighting, her best friends aren't speaking to her, and she's falling for someone totally unexpected. All she wants is to be normal, but what does that even mean? Jo must learn to shed her insecurities, resentments, and preconceived notions, in order to be true to herself and find the people who really care about her. Book Two in the Woodview Stories series.

 

Woodview Stories is a Young Adult contemporary fiction book series. It tells the coming of age tales of a diverse group of teens living in the affluent Long Island neighborhood of Woodview. The overarching story progresses through the books chronologically with each installment switching narrator to focus on a different person's point of view.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ian Rose Castro
• Release date: Dec 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223493570

Ian Rose Castro

Ian Rose Castro (he/they) was an avid reader as a child, but as a queer Latine teen, he always wished he could see more characters like him and his friends in the books he read. He has always loved creative writing, so he decided to try writing his own.  Ian graduated from Drexel University magna cum laude, with a B.S. in Music Industry, dual minors in Communication and Business Administration, and a Certificate in Creative Writing and Publishing. He loves to listen to music, binge trashy TV, and cuddle with his dog. He currently lives on Long Island.

Book preview

Will It Ever Get Better?

Ian Rose Castro

Copyright © 2023 by Ian Rose Castro

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval without permission in writing from the author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

For my parents

Will It Ever Get Better?

A Woodview Story

by Ian Rose Castro

Contents

Will It Ever Get Better?

Previously…

Playlist

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Coming Soon

Previously…

Book One

It Could Always Be Worse

After a traumatic experience in her home town of Miami, Elena Flores moves away to live with the father she’s never met. It’s not easy starting a new school in the middle of October, so when her half-sister invites her to a party, she thinks what’s the worst that could happen?

Playlist

Track 1: Enemy by Sandro Cavazza

Track 2: You Won’t Know Where You Stand by Aquilo

Track 3: Freaks by Jordan Clarke

Track 4: Bubbly by Colbie Caillat

Track 5: Maniac by Conan Gray

Track 6: i wanna be your girlfriend by girl in red

Track 7: Somewhere Else by Razorlight

Track 8: TALK ME DOWN by Troye Sivan

Track 9: Let Her Go by Passenger

Track 10: Older by Sasha Alex Sloane

Track 11: This Christmas (I’ll Burn it to the Ground) by Set It Off

Track 12: Mess It Up by Gracie Abrams

Track 13: This Is The New Year by A Great Big World

Track 14: When You Love Someone by James TW

Track 15: Oh Well, Oh Well by Mayday Parade

Track 16: How Soon is Now? by The Smiths

Track 17: Whataya Want From Me by Adam Lambert

Track 18: I Like Me Better by Lauv

1

Enemy

I instinctively shut my eyes tight as I step on the scale, terrified of what number it will show. I slowly peel my left eye open and look down.

163. Up two pounds. Disgusting. I ate way too much on Thanksgiving. I just couldn’t stop myself from having seconds. Something is seriously wrong with me.

Jo! Are you ready yet? Elena calls from the bottom of the staircase. Meg said we’re leaving in five minutes, with or without you.

I’ll be down soon! I call, gripping the sink tightly.

I look at my reflection in the mirror and try to breathe. In for four seconds, hold for two seconds, out for eight seconds, and repeat. It was the method my mom had drilled into my head when I was younger and I knew I could count on it to temporarily calm me down.

I give my long blonde hair a few finishing brushes and head downstairs.

Took you long enough, my mom says, chuckling to herself. What were you doing up there?

I flip my hair dramatically. "This does not happen naturally."

She rolls her eyes. Yeah yeah. It’s high school, not a fashion show.

I get in the front seat and Elena sits in the back. I fiddle with the radio for a few blocks, until my mom swats my hand away, claiming that it’s distracting her.

She leaves a song playing that I don’t recognize, but I still try my best to focus on it. I need to think about something other than the mess waiting for me at school.

I think I knew deep down that my friendship with Casey was over after that party at Levi Haddad’s house about a month and a half ago. The way she looked at me that night, there was no coming back from that.

We had gone to that party for one reason, and one reason only: Casey wanted to get Levi’s attention. She had told me back in July that by the next summer we would all have boyfriends. I think it really bugged her that our friend Rachel got a boyfriend before she did. She always wanted to be first at everything. She was the first to have her own cell phone, the first to start wearing a bra, the first to kiss a boy. When Rachel started dating Nico Roma freshman year, it drove Casey crazy. So she set her sights on someone even better. Rachel may have been able to get the attention of a boy our age, but Casey was going to be the first one of us to date a senior. And she’d chosen Levi.

Unfortunately for her, that plan hasn’t exactly been seamless. She believed this was, at least in part, my fault. She had arrived at the party in an outfit perfectly selected to show off her best attributes, but Levi seemed to only notice Elena.

Casey couldn’t hide her frustration. Aside from one extremely awkward interaction where he called her Kelsey, Levi didn’t even look at Casey all night. It certainly wasn’t due to her lack of trying. We’d only been at the party for a little over an hour or so, and Casey was already devastated.

This is so humiliating, Casey sighed dramatically, as she tugged at a piece of her long red hair.

It’s not that bad, I assured her. He’s hosting. He’s busy running all over the place. You can’t take it personally.

He had time for the new girl, she mumbled. I wish you hadn’t brought her.

I was just trying to be nice, I explained. I couldn’t exactly tell her that Elena was my surprise half-sister. I didn’t want anyone to know about that. I just feel bad for her, you know?

Well, she seems to be doing fine now. Casey scoffed and pouted as she leaned her head on my shoulder. Can we just go home?

Already? Look, just because the night’s not going exactly as planned doesn’t mean we can’t still have fun.

Please Jo, She looked up at me with puppy dog eyes, this party was a total fail and it’s all your fault for inviting Elena. I just want to get out of here.

Okay, fine. Let’s go then. I look around the room. Rachel said Nico’s gonna take her home, so let me just find Elena and then we can go.

She groaned. No, I don’t wanna see her right now. She’s the whole reason I want to leave. Let’s go hang out, she begged, just the two of us.

I bit my lip. I can’t just leave her here.

She’ll be fine, Casey insisted. She basically threw herself at the host. She doesn’t need you, but I do.

I nodded. Okay. Let’s go. I had no idea what a big mistake I was about to make.

She didn’t want to be alone, so we went to her house. We sat on her bed and we talked for what felt like forever. It started to get later and later, as she kept going on and on about how I was her best friend and how we’d always be there for each other. Maybe I was a little drunk, or maybe I just got too wrapped up in being so close to the most beautiful girl I knew, staring into her emerald eyes, but the next thing I knew, I had leaned in and kissed her.

What the hell are you doing? She pushed me away so hard that I almost fell off the bed. She stood up and backed up against the wall, getting as far away from me as possible.

Shit, I stammered. I’m sorry. That was–

What’s wrong with you? Why would you kiss me?

I… I didn’t know what to say. What was I thinking?

"What are you, a lesbian?" The look of disgust on her face, the sound of hatred in her voice… it was everything I’d feared. What had I done?

Of course not! I shouted in desperation, I just… that was stupid. I’m sorry.

Can you get out of my room?