lauren tsai as...
Allison Ziya

They warn you about boys like Simon Kelleher. The ones with pretty eyes,  ones who sweet talk you, the ones who would do anything to gossip. But, that was the thing about him. He didn't run back to his jock best friends, he didn't bust into the locker rooms, he didn't open his mouth about you unless it was on About That. Allison knew it, that's why she did anything any everything to stay clear of a boy like him. That was, until the summer before senior year.

The thing was, she always felt tied down. Her parents were extremely religious, meaning she had to act and be a certain way or face the punishment of committing sins. That being said, the saving yourself bullshit was a big thing in their house hold. It was a common speech from both her parents, a constant discussion in every conversation. As she got older, it had only gotten worse. Allison couldn't remember a time when she didn't have the no sex until marriage talk shoved down her throat every day.

But, Allison was seventeen, she'd spent the first week of summer at a bible study camp. Her parents weren't the type to let her go out, always having to have a friend over. Bronwyn Rojas was a common friend to come for the evening, but they weren't the type to hang out every chance you could get. To sum it up, Allison was lonely. She had her books, and she loved her books, but sometimes she wanted friend that weren't just within pages of a fictional story. Then, right across the street, there he was.

Simon Kelleher. With his collared shirt and shiny jewelry.

He tried for weeks to wave to Allison, coming home, looking toward her house. He knew she always came to her window to watch him, yet never made an effort to say hello in any way. So, because he was him, and because he couldn't stand the thought of not knowing something about someone, he'd found her on the only social media she had. Pinterest. Her parents didn't know that you could communicate on there, all they knew was that it was an app to look at pretty pictures in. And, man, did he get some pretty pictures.

Allison and Simon talked for weeks before he took the conversation a little flirty. To his surprise, Allison was on an entirely new level of flirting. She'd been cooped up and shelter for so long, just wanting that feeling of being wanted, and it came too easily from him. Photo after photo, text after text, message after messages, and they weren't just strangers across the street anymore. No one had ever known Allison the way Simon did, and the scary part was that they'd never spoken a word in person.

Another week passed, walking outside at the same time, both checking their mail at the same time, standing by their windows. Then, a dangerous and genius plan was in order. Simon had suggested for Allison to come over, pointing out how her parents wouldn't know if she left in the middle of the night. That being said, she wasn't use to staying up so late, but she did for his sake. And, just like he promised, they had absolutely no clue she'd left.

Allison and Simon spent almost every night together, forming a bond that was hard to explain but impossible to beat. He was her friend, she'd gotten so attached so fast and it terrified her. But, that sort of thing happened when you aren't use to having the attention that Simon was giving her. So, when a first kiss leads to a first time, it became a chain reaction. A secret love affair between two neighbors that, to the public eye, never spoken a single word to each other.

But, when the first day of school roles around, Simon and Allison still fresh off their summer fling, she hadn't expected to see her nasty secret on About That, listening to her classmates gossip about who they thought the good girl he wrote about was. But, more importantly, she didn't expect for her secret boyfriend to die in the middle of an unexpected detention.

But, the last thing she'd expected was to hallucinate her dead boyfriend in order to cope with the excruciating pain of his absence.

•

kylie speaks

two weeks later and i've
completed this book! it's
so special to me and i loved
every second of it!! but, i do
want to put out that it's pretty
upsetting. keep in mind that
the love of her life is dead, meaning she's gonna be pretty sad, as are most people when they lose someone. please don't bring negatively about it being "annoying" that she is upset or crying, loosing someone is hard and i've experienced it. this book is for one's that have suffered from mental illness and grief!
i do hope you all enjoy it though!