Evie is struggling to focus on finishing her university assignment because she has a lot on her mind. She thinks about her friends at university, including her best friend Zara, her friend Gabriella who Zara dislikes, and her childhood friend Jesse whom she has romantic feelings for but isn't aware of them. The prologue provides background on Evie and her friends as she tries to push these distractions aside and complete her work.

1. The Reason Is You: Prologue The heart has reasons that reason does not understand...

2. Picking up her pen, Evelyn Brooke tried her hardest to start writing the sentence which would make up the very last paragraph of her assignment. “Concentrate.... concentrate...” she murmured to herself. But it was easier said than done. She had too much on her mind at the moment and it was jeopardising her ability to work. It was halfway through her second year at university, and if she wanted to get through this year with the excellent grades she was famous for, she needed this assignment to go well. Of course, that wouldn’t happen if she couldn’t concentrate on it enough to finish it.

3. Evie (the only people that called her Evelyn were her parents and her teachers) rested her head on her fist as she leaned forwards over her work, trying desperately to stop reading the same sentence over and over again, but it was no use. She sighed. All right; so her brain was clearly telling her it didn’t want to think about work for the moment. Maybe if she gave in and let her thoughts wander, she would get it out of her system and then she could actually get something done. She glanced at the clock and made sure she had the time to spare, and when she’d confirmed that she did, she started thinking about the current, recurring issues that were ruining her productivity when it came to her work...

4. Evie had come to university a year and a half ago with her two best friends, one of whom was Zara Chen. Zara had been friends with Evie since they were little kids. They had lived in houses across the road from each other, and being the same age it was natural that they would grow up as friends. Zara had always been the more dominant of the two, often thinking up some harebrained scheme that would get them both into trouble, but Evie had forgiven her every time because Zara was closer to her than a sister. They shared everything with each other, and when she decided to go to university Evie had been delighted to hear that Zara would be going with her.

5. Not that it had been Zara’s choice, however. She lived with her grandmother as a result of being orphaned at a young age when her parents had died in a car crash, and though Zara loved and wanted to please her grandmother, it was hard when they both had different ideas about Zara’s future. Zara herself was a sports fanatic; she wanted nothing more than to have a job in the sports industry and earn money by doing what she loved. But her grandmother considered that to be a waste of Zara’s natural intellect and intelligence, and insisted that her granddaughter attend university with the good grades she had already achieved.

6. They had argued over it for some time, but eventually Zara had grudgingly accepted that her grandmother was right; it might be wise to have some qualifications to fall back on in case her sports career didn’t turn out the way she’d planned. So she’d packed up her things and joined Evie at Sim State University, choosing drama as her major. Zara wasn’t a massive fan of drama, but it was her theory that it wouldn’t be as academic a subject as some of the other choices, and therefore she wouldn’t find it too taxing.

7. Of course, this meant that she would have more time to spend at the campus gym; her favourite place. She was often found there; it helped clear her mind and focus her more on her work. In addition to that, there was no harm in her preparing for her sports career at the same time as preparing for her degree, was there?

8. Evie and Zara had moved into the same dorm together, and the girls took great comfort in having each other close by for support during this difficult time for both of them. University life for the two friends was generally pretty good... well, except for one thing....

9. Shortly after arriving at university, Evie had become good friends with another of the students, a girl named Gabriella Jones. Although Evie and Gabriella were like chalk and cheese, the two of them had a good connection with each other and, to the surprise of everyone, the shy bookworm and the popular girl were very close. It was just a shame that the same couldn’t be said of Gabriella and Zara...

10. For some reason that Evie was still trying to comprehend, Gabriella and Zara despised one another. Evie was certain that part of it was to do with jealousy; she felt as though deep down, Zara was afraid that Gabriella was trying to take Evie away from her, even though Evie herself had explained to Zara a number of times that that wasn’t the case. But Zara had denied being jealous, simply stating that “the jumped-up little tart needed taking down a peg or two.” Gabriella, on the other hand, had referred to Zara as “the sports freak” who had no idea about the three most important things in life: boys, fashion and popularity.

11. Gabriella may have been concerned primarily with her looks and her latest romantic conquests, but she was still kind and generous, and Evie valued her friendship just as much as Zara’s. Gabriella, in turn, had some of her more airheaded notions knocked out of her by Evie’s practical and sensible nature, and was slowly becoming a more rounded and likeable individual.

12. Taylor Wood, Gabriella’s on again/off again boyfriend, was the fourth member of their little group. Taylor was... Taylor. He shared Gabriella’s love of partying and flirting, and the two of them had a rather open relationship. But lately Evie had noticed that they weren’t flirting with and kissing other people as much as they had in the past; lately, they only had eyes for each other. Taylor was good friends with the final member of the group, Jesse Roberts.

13. As she thought of his name, Evie ran a hand through her hair, sighing. Jesse... He was her other best friend who had come with her to university, and they had known each other even longer than they had known Zara. Evie and Jesse had grown up together literally from the moment they were born; their parents being lifelong friends. For almost the same amount of time, Evie had known that she was utterly and completely in love with Jesse. Unfortunately, he still failed to realise that, and Evie was far too shy to say anything. He often said she was like a sister to him, and it made her heart sink a little more each time he said it. Maybe he would never feel the same way about her as she did for him...

14. She tried not to think about that, but his sea-green eyes and kind face wouldn’t leave her mind, and she gave up trying to resist, allowing herself to daydream for a few moments. Jesse Roberts was generous, fun-loving and friendly. He had always taken care of her and when she was around him she felt safe and happy. She supposed that she’d always taken his presence for granted; Zara had never been interested in boys much when they were younger and Jesse had never shown any interest in Zara either. But now they were at university, and there were a lot of girls here showing an interest in Jesse’s good looks and charm. Evie was worried that if she didn’t do something soon to make him realise how she felt, she would lose him to some other girl...

15. Thoughts of their time together as children filled her mind, and, as usual when she thought deeply about something, there was a song in her head to accompany her thoughts. The song was one of her favourites, and it described her and Jesse almost perfectly.

16. She said “I was seven, and you were nine; I looked at you like the stars that shined in the sky; The pretty lights... And our daddies used to joke about the two of us Growing up and falling in love; And our mamas smiled, And rolled their eyes, And said ‘Oh, my my my...’” Song lyrics: “Oh My My My” by Taylor Swift

17. Gabriella and Zara’s fights; Gabriella and Taylor’s unstable relationship; Jesse’s complete lack of ability to understand how much he meant to her... Evie sometimes thought things would never be resolved. She sighed again and returned her pen to the paper. Enough daydreaming. She had an assignment to write; she couldn’t procrastinate any longer. Pushing all thoughts of her friends’ issues to the back of her mind, she settled back down to work...

18. The prologue ends here, but fear not because hopefully I’ll have chapter 1 out very soon, and hopefully the picture quality and writing quality will be somewhat improved. Thank you so much for reading (if anyone has... *looks around nervously* and I hope you enjoyed this little insight into what I’ve been working on for what feels like years now. Drop me a comment if you so wish on my boolprop.com thread. Thanks guys!