For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and for these two, their lives have been planned down to a science. For Wylan Olson, being yourself can be very stressful. Since she was young, her emotions have always been backwards. The embodiment of 'tears of joy,' that laughs to keep from crying, not many people understand her struggle. Mostly because she barely understands it herself, but she's making it...barely. All she wants to do is make something out of herself, and she's willing to work for it. Kwame Okari has been raised to be perfect. His parents' strict expectations at son leave no room for friendships, which they regard as frivolous. Their only concern is for him to be Ivy League, and he cannot afford to disappoint. He is a boy on a mission, with a clear objective: be first. And there's only one person standing in his way-Wylan. As the two develop a better understanding of each other, competing agendas complicate their relationship forcing them to decide which is more important: attraction or ambition, satisfaction or success, friendship or fruition, and lead them to wonder if one has to be mitigated for the other.

Tracy couldn't have imagined a worse start to her freshman year. The weekend before she's supposed to start school at the recently integrated Mason High in Bakersfield, Alabama, a fatal car accident threatens the fragile peace her town has been experiencing. Maybe it's an omen, but Tracy is determined not to let it slow her down. Tracy dreams of making it to Harvard, and she won't let anything stop her from becoming an Ivy League-trained lawyer. Aware of the amount of dedication and personal sacrifice it will take to achieve this goal, she is willing to give up weekends out, and is prepared for her teachers, friends, and even family to stand in her way. What she hasn't counted on, however, is falling in love. Derek doesn't know what he wants from the future. Lacking ambition, and happily settled in Bakersfield, the only thing the two of them seem to have in common is their dislike for each other. When a high school project forces them to work together, Tracy finds herself falling for him. But in her quest to achieve the impossible, there's no room for deviation or compromise-and there's certainly no room for love.As Tracy struggles with her developing feelings, she realizes that in life, it's never as simple as black and white.