The Teenage Angst Brigade by jandco

Official Description: A deal was made, a pact to keep five friends from the pitfalls of high school disparity. If only Edward hadn’t wanted Bella, it might have lasted…ALL HUMAN. OOC.
Word Count: 54,839

–
About a year ago I accidentally started reading fanfiction due to a desperate need to fill a void. I was a fish out of water and didn’t know what to look for or what I was doing really. I had read countless “copy and paste” versions of Twilight where the author actually did “insert self.” Somehow I kept hitting a brick wall; nothing was interesting enough to help me understand all the hype about fanfiction. The whole thing was a huge disappointment, and I was going to give up until I heard about this little thing called angst.

Having discovered that was going about this all wrong, I decided to search stories with angst in them on Fanfiction.net. One story caught my eye because of the title alone: THE TEENAGE ANGST BRIGADE by Jandco. I remember thinking “this has got to be just what I was looking for.” I had no idea, then, how true those words would be.

THE TEENAGE ANGST BRIGADE (TTAB) is honestly the reason that I continue to read fanfiction to this day. It is the reason that I haven’t quit, because it taught me that there are fanfictions out there worth wading through the muck for, that coal really can produce a diamond. And TTAB is a diamond, a classic . . . a must in any reading list. It’s brilliance to this day is unmatched, and I’ve never been so enthralled by a story before that I actually forgot to breathe.

TTAB is an alternate-universe/human, M rated story about new girl Bella Swan who, at Forks High School, meets a group of five very close friends. A group of friends that come with a stigma . . . that come with a secret. She’s fascinated by them, the rumors, the secrecy, their behaviors, their interactions with each other . . . everything. And she’ll quickly learn that every rumor actually does stem from some kernel of truth and it’s a truth that she’s going to have to decide if she is willing to accept or not. But more importantly, she won’t be the only one to learn that there is a heavy price to pay when your back is against the wall and it is the truth that has got its hand shoved down your shirt.

TTAB is amazingly well-written with vivid imagery that puts you right in the action. It’s this very reason that I absolutely adore this story: because TTAB takes the best and the worst aspects of life and weaves them with strings that don’t just pull at the heart, but claw.

One scene in particular moved me so much that I was left gaping, my heart pounding, and my fingers twitching erratically to click to the next page. No other fanfiction has been able to take me by surprise like TTAB and no other has yanked the breath right out of my lungs because of the sheer power of the raw emotion in it. It’s something that I still can’t get over; just how much my chest clenched when I learned that one single drop of blood won’t stain only fabric and . . . well I’m not going to ruin it for you! You’ll know when you get there, just remember to breathe.

I’ll leave you with this: if you don’t believe a word I’ve said or still aren’t completely sold on the idea of this amazing, captivating, and truly touching fanfiction then maybe some words of advice from Edward Cullen will make it better. . . best.

“But that’s the thing about youth: it’s messy and fucked up, and whiskey and crass, sex and regret and fear and music and dangerous and red converse and love and hurt and beautiful and confusing . . . and just like the five of us, all anyone is trying to do is find a way out . . . and fuck you if you think yours was any different.”

Because when they say that art reflects life, nothing is truer. And THE TEENAGE ANGST BRIGADE is a classic work of art . . . but more than that, it’s a work of life.