Firsts, Not Forevers

When Esther Hadassah Cruz starts packing her things for college apartment move-in, she finds an old box under her bed and with it are eight almost-love stories she never meant to revisit.

Each item she picks up pulls her back to a time, a crush, a moment: from fighting (and later hugging) her grade school nemesis, to lending a pen to a boy who'd unknowingly steal her heart in five minutes. From secret glances across classrooms, to an acapella song written for someone who never showed up.

They weren't grand love stories. Some lasted a week. Others lasted years. None of them were real love.

Now, with her heart in transition, between past and future, high school and college, crush and courage, Esther begins to piece together the quiet story of a girl who loved, even when no one called it love yet.