Ella James has spent most of her life being overlooked, underestimated, or laughed at.
At school, she’s the girl in the oversized hoodies. The girl people make jokes about. The girl no one chooses.
After years of disappointment, Ella has learned not to expect much from anyone—especially not from Beckett Cross.
Popular, confident, and seemingly perfect, Beckett has always been everything Ella avoids. He’s the kind of boy who belongs at the center of every room while she’s spent years trying to disappear into the background.
Then a family emergency forces Ella to move in next door.
Suddenly, the boy who barely notices her at school becomes impossible to avoid.
Inside his home, Beckett is different. Kinder. Softer. Protective in ways that leave Ella questioning everything she thought she knew about him. But every morning when they walk back into school, the walls go back up, leaving Ella trapped between two versions of the same boy.
One who looks at her like she’s special.
And one who acts like she doesn’t matter.
As feelings grow and old insecurities refuse to stay buried, Beckett finds himself facing a truth he never expected: somewhere between late-night conversations, family dinners, and stolen moments, Ella became the first person he looks for.
But loving Ella means more than feeling something when nobody is watching.
It means choosing her when everyone is.
And for a girl who’s spent her entire life feeling like someone’s second choice, that may be the one thing she can never compromise on.
A slow-burn emotional romance about self-worth, first love, healing old wounds, and learning that being seen can be the scariest—and most beautiful—thing of all.
