Reed + Lauren + Caleb = Trouble

Reed Hunter doesn't do romance. Why waste money on flowers, candy, and date night when you could just as easily spend it on pot? Besides Reed never had any trouble landing a girl he wanted with his good looks and smooth talking alone. Some say he was born girl crazy, but he prefers to be considered an appreciator of women...all women, no preference as to shape, color, size, ethnicity. And no two women are the same because they each have their own unique smell, taste, and noises they make when he gets them into bed. He's about the hunt, the chase, the game: if a girl gives in too easily then what's the point? If a girl plays too hard he moves on refusing to break a non-sexual sweat. Reed doesn't believe in relationships either; he's sixteen. Let him worry about boring things like commitment when he's old, like in his late twenties.

Caleb Garrahey has been coined "The Scarlet V" by his friends because he's the last remaining virgin in the group. Caleb never had a girlfriend, but not because there aren't girls out there who want him, because he's shy and a bit sheltered. He used to be an "ugly duckling" skinny, scabby knees, walking hunched over. Now he could be equated to looking like a Calvin Klein model although Caleb is completely oblivious to his hotness even when girls come onto him in a very direct way. Caleb is a dreamer and a romantic, but no one really knows this side of him unfortunately. He's the all around good guy: loyal friend, dutiful son, and model student. Life is passing him by because he is too damn passive about taking chances and putting himself out there.

Lauren Knapp is a mystery wrapped in an enigma buried under a puzzle. She transfers to Stanobia Academy, a private boarding high school, in her junior year. There are dark circumstances surrounding her arrival that she refuses to talk about with anyone at first. Lauren is beautiful although not in a typical way and no one at her previous school appreciated the way she looked and neither does she; the boys at Stanobia are a different story. She catches the immediate attention of both Reed and Caleb, but for very different reasons. Reed wants her because she's a challenge to him: the first girl to not melt at his feet standing up to him and his BS. Caleb falls for her because she encourages him to crawl out of his shell in order to experience life. The most important relationship to Lauren however is the one she is trying to repair with herself. Who gets the girl? To find out you'll have to read The Journey...