At Westwood High, where everyone is fighting for a spot in the social hierarchy, transfer student Riley just wants to disappear. Aldric Chen, the school’s brooding basketball star with a perfect GPA, wants to escape the pedestal everyone has put him on. Their worlds collide with a semester-long history project, unearthing local secrets and personal tragedies both would rather keep buried.Forced to work together, they discover an unexpected connection in the quiet of the library and the dark of a lakeside dock. But between jealous exes, relentless college pressure, and the ghosts of their own pasts, Riley and Aldric must decide if their fragile bond is just a temporary escape—or the one real thing in a world of carefully constructed facades.A story for anyone who has ever felt like they’re pretending, and for anyone who has ever looked at the “perfect” person and seen the cracks.