Sentiment

Sentiment is an experimental romance novel currently in the works. First written in 2013, the story so far has been compiled into 4 chapters. Sentiment follows the daily lives and relationships of high schoolers Seth and Teela as they struggle to find what it is they truly want–being adults or just living out their lives the way high schoolers were meant to.

The story features a playlist that is meant to be listened to when cued to add to the atmopshere of the moment. The songs are varied in genre and are all by licensed artists.

## Setting and World

The setting of Sentiment is a nameless town with fictional areas such as a bar with the name "Sentiment". The areas in which the students live seem to be a hybrid of a suburban and urban area with trains and tall buildings. The school in which Seth and Teela go to feature uniforms similar to that of Japanese schools.

## Plot

The story begins at 3 AM in the morning, when high school senior Seth approaches a woman at a bar and gets shot down almost instantly. He later takes the train home and notices she goes into the same building as him. Not too much time has passed when he decides to leave his home to buy some super late night snacks when he is met with the girl again in the elevator, although drunk off her heels. Feeling pity (and staring hard at her figure), he insists he pays a cab for her safe return home.

The very next day, his best friend--and typical bro archetype-- Mez casually meets up with his older friend Jen, who happens to be roomates with the very girl of the night before. Revealed to be Teela, the girl is a sophomore at Seth's school. From then on, he persists to bother her for her "floozy" ways and they begin a peculiar, if not strained, friendship.

The story and characters slowly develop from then on, introducing other characters such as past flings to fill in certain personality points between Seth and Teela respectively. Both Seth and Teela tend to be conflicted by the fact that although they are high school students, their friends group and overall lifestyles are far more mature than they are.

## Playlist

Sentiment features a compilation of songs from licensed artists that are "played" throughout various scenes of the story. The songs are usually mentioned casually during the story sequence. A list compiling the songs can be found at the end of the story. Here is a list of the songs featured in the order they appear:

1. **"A Tree, a Rock, and a Cloud" by AIM**: plays at the bar Sentiment when Seth first approaches Teela.
2. **“Starcastic” by Enon**: plays during a chipper scene of Seth preparing food and cleaning way past midnight.
3. **"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers**: plays as the alarm goes off the morning after the night of Seth and Teela's meeting.
4. **"Dame de Lotus" by Émilie Simon**: plays during a text session between Teela and Seth at a doctor's appointment.
5. **“If Looks Could Kill” by Camera Obscura**: plays after Teela's appointment as she mimics the singer in front of a mirror.
6. **“Corner Store” by Brazilian Girls**: plays as Teela preps for her first date with Seth.

## Trivia

* Seth's and Teela's names were featured in a short story called GighSchool, Seth being featured as a street and Teela working in a cafe on said street.
* Mez is the exact same Mez from At Your Fingertips, Shia Moca's ex.
* Jen's appearance is identical to Bee Lo Vedo's from At Your Fingertips.