"Just Friends"

.

To my first best friend.
To my ninth grade English class for being so insanely boring. And to that teacher for letting me read aloud what I had wrote so far the last day of school.
To a bunch of students in that class for reading my drafts and giving me feedback.
To my parents, for making sure that I knew I genuinely had talent.
To the awful experience I had questioning my sexuality, and then also coming out; for awakening the desire to share my journey in the form of fiction, in hopes that it might make someone else's easier.
To some of my friends for, once again, encouraging me to believe in myself. Strongly.

I am tremendously appreciative and in love with this novel. Because the world it built goes far beyond the words you'll find.
It sat by my side, in my notebook, iPad, head, for way too many years to count. And it has given me so much, I'm sure not even I begin to comprehend the extension of its offerings.