Well, hello there.

First of all, I'd like to thank you for reading AGTLM! This book means an incredible lot to me, and I am so thankful to every single one of you that read this.

I've spent at least a year planning, writing, and listening to sad lo-fi music for this book, and although most of that said time was spent procrastinating, it was still an awfully long time.

This is the most dedicated I've ever been with an original book, as all the books that I've written beforehand were short stories.

The book has a total of 85,383 words, so congratulate yourself for making through all of those!

Before we get into the details of the book that you might've missed, here is a gorgeous piece of artwork made by one of my friends depicting Lucas.

(She's never read the book nor does she know the plot, but it's still scarily accurate to an extent.)

Now, here to tell you some details in the book that you might've missed.

B A N N E R S

In the ending and starting banners of the book, you can spot minimal changes as the story progresses.

For example, from chapter 24 (Butterfly Weeds) all the way towards the end, the dog tag was absent since Lucas had placed it inside the envelope.

As for the ending banners, they had three varieties. Isabella with green, Nathan with red, and Lucas with blue. If you go back to chapters like chapter 16 (Her) and 17 (Him), you can see that even though the story was told through Nathan's perspective, the ending banners are separately green and blue, and not red.

This is because even though the chapter is being told through a different perspective, it has a focus on that specific character/that specific character is contributing to alteration on an idea/thought that the main character has.

C O L O U R S

As I've said before, the characters have distinct colours that represent them. It is also a big theme in the book, like the circle of chairs lined up in a colour wheel formation in the counselling room, and also the clothing of different characters.

In the story, Nathan's and Isabella's clothes are the only ones that alter in colour. Isabella for when Nathan and her first met as a reminder of Lucas, as she was wearing a similar shade of clothing that Lucas was.

Nathan's situation is a bit more complex. As the story progresses, if you read very carefully, you can actually spot that Nathan's clothes go from red, to orange, to yellow, and then to purple.

Now, this is because green (Isabella) and red (Nathan) are on two different sides of the colour wheel. As Nathan develops his feelings, his colour slowly alters and changes to fit with Isabella's.

However, by the end of his act, he discovers that Isabella simply reminded him of Lucas, and thus his colour (red) plus Lucas's colour (blue) becomes purple.

Very minor detail, but this is just in case you wondered why the characters never changed their clothes :)

(They're not just lazy, I swear)

Here is the list of characters with their representing colours, and reasoning on why.

NATHAN - RED
Red is a very emotionally intense colour, and Nathan is someone who is very engaged with their emotional side.

It is also the colour of love, energy and strength, which Nathan has displayed/experienced throughout the book.

ISABELLA - GREEN
Green is the colour of calm, growth and nature. This is incredibly ironic as Isabella has crippling social anxiety.

However, in the end, Isabella grows and realises that she shouldn't depend on someone else to determine her self worth, thus finding peace and calm for herself.

It is also the opposite from red on the colour wheel to symbolise the differences between her and Nathan.

RO - PINK
Pink is the colour of universal love of of others. Pink represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability.

Ro is a sweet, kind girl who always smiles. Pink adds to her impression of friendliness and unconditional lovingness towards her friends.

It is also a lighter shade of red, symbolising her crush, and close friendship with Nathan.

(There are more details I will go onto in the spinoff!)

LUCAS - BLUE
Blue is the colour of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, and intelligence.

Lucas' colour is blue. Lucas hides his emotions, he appears calm and gentle on the surface, (Sky Blue) but has a constant stream of self-doubt and anxiety hidden underneath.

It is also close to green on the colour wheel, which symbolises the similarity between him and Isabella.

ALEX - YELLOW
Yellow stands for, happiness, positivity,  energy, optimism, honour, and joy. Alex is depicted as a joyful, loud teenager with a happy-go-lucky attitude to life, thus the universal colour of joy and happiness.

SPENCER - PURPLE
The colour purple is often associated with royalty, intelligence, luxury, power, and ambition. Spencer is the vice-president of the student council body, thus the colour of intelligence, power, and ambition.

Purple is also the opposite from yellow on the colour wheel since, although Alex and Spencer are direct opposites, they complement each other well as best friends.

MYLES - BLACK
ELLIOT - WHITE
BETHANY - GREY

(The explanation for the three characters above are reserved for the next book.)
(You'll know why when it comes out, trust me)

F L O W E R S

Lucas's chapters are all named after flowers, and although that can be excused for Lucas having a special love towards flowers, all the flowers I've chosen actually have different meanings relating to the chapters.

Red Roses (Chapter 21) - The iconic symbol and flower for "I love you." The meaning behind this is quite obvious, as it is the first chapter in Lucas' act when Nathan appears, and also red being Nathan's representing colour.

Petunias (Chapter 22) - As many of you might already know from the Harry Potter series, Petunias usually means something along the lines of negativity. However, it actually represents anger and resentment.

In the chapter, Lucas displays signs of how he feels insignificant and especially unneeded in the friend group, and his own self-hatred towards his body, thus petunias, flowers of hatred.

White Lilies (Chapter 23) - White lilies are often chosen for funerals. In the chapter, Lucas hints at his negative thoughts relating to death, and also communicates them to Myles (More on how Myles relates to these thoughts in the spinoff)

Thus, the hints and thoughts of death by Lucas are presented in the title with white lilies.

Butterfly Weeds (Chapter 24) - Butterfly Weeds' meaning directly translates to "Leave me." and "Let me go."

This is the chapter when Nathan calls Lucas. He tells Nathan to try to forget about his existence through the phonecall in his last moments, thus, "Let me go." and "Leave me."

Sweet Peas  (Chapter 25) - Sweet Peas symbolise departure, goodbye, and in a phrase, "Thank you for the lovely time."  The chapter is the emails from Lucas to Myles, and saying Lucas' final goodbyes and wishes.

Orange Gerberas (Lucas' favourite flowers) - Orange has been presented as a colour of enthusiasm, energy and warmth. Nathan is a warm, loving person with optimism and joy. This conveys Lucas' affection towards Nathan into a flower with the colour that represents energy and warmth.

Gerberas also convey that the person you present it to is the sunshine of your life. (Again, Nathan) They also express your attachment with the person. (Say it with me now, Nathan)

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That's all the points I can think off the top of my head so far! If you guys still have any questions that you'd like to ask about specific points in the story, I'd be more than glad to answer them!

This is the first book in the "Lunch Table" series, so there will, in fact, be a spinoff. I've already done a rough planning draft beforehand, so stay tuned!

The spinoff will be also following the three acts formatting, with the story being set in Ro's, Elliot's, and Myles' perspectives. So if anyone was wondering about the build-up for their backstories in this book with no further explanation, just wait for the next book for your answers!

I'd like to once again dedicate this book to one of my friends, who has been a tremendous help in not only the development of the story, but also editing some parts that I was really stuck on.

Thank you to bellasrecords, as honestly, without her, this book probably would've never been completed in the first place.

Again, I'd just like to thank you and everyone who has read this book. This really is the biggest project I've done, and I honestly can't thank you enough for spending your time and reading it.

- Zari