The Space Between Us
They say high school is where you figure out who you are. For Harper Lane, it's where you learn how to disappear.
Curvy, quiet, and too smart for her own social good, Harper's mastered the art of going unnoticed. She's the girl in oversized hoodies who sits in the back row, draws in her sketchbook during lunch, and doesn't speak unless she's called on. At Madison Grove High, being invisible is her armor-and she's learned never to want more.
Especially not the attention of Jaxon Brooks-the six-foot-two golden boy with the easy smile, tousled curls, and quarterback swagger every girl crushes on from afar. He's the Instagram highlight reel in human form. Confident. Popular. Taken.
But Jaxon has a secret: he sees her.
He's been seeing her since seventh grade. Since the day she tripped over a bench in gym class and cracked his idea of what girls were supposed to be. Since the first time she rolled her eyes at his charm and didn't bother pretending to swoon.
Since the first time he kissed her.
They weren't supposed to keep colliding. Not in the library, not in empty classrooms, and definitely not in midnight text messages that feel more like confessions. Harper wasn't supposed to feel anything, wasn't supposed to answer him, wasn't supposed to fall. But the thing about secrets is-they don't stay quiet forever. And the space between what they are and what they pretend to be? It's shrinking.
Fast.
When Jaxon calls her "just some girl" in front of his friends, it should've ended there. Should've broken the illusion and shattered the hope Harper never meant to grow. But the thing about Jaxon Brooks? He's never been brave in the daylight-but he's never stopped wanting her in the dark.
And Harper? She's tired of being anyone's secret.
As rumors swirl, friendships crack, and Kenzie Matthews-Jaxon's picture-perfect girlfriend-tightens her grip on what's hers, Harper is forced to decide: will she stay in the shadows to protect her heart, or finally risk everything to be seen?
Because love isn't just found in stolen kisses and whispered late-night drives. It's what happens when the truth finally makes it to the surface.
And if they can't find a way through the space between them?
They might lose each other for good.
The Space Between Us is a deeply raw, romantic coming-of-age story about identity, love, loss, and learning how to finally step out of the back row-and into your own story.
