Pen Mates

Ru Sanchez, 16, doesn't give much thought to her future. All she cares about is her little brother Remy, newly admitted to the most elite school in East London. Remy is her ticket out-the one who can rescue both of them from their broken council flat, from the silence where their mother should be.
But when Remy is stabbed, and their emotionally absent mother takes her own life, Ru's world collapses. With nowhere to go and no one left to trust, Ru turns to drugs. She hangs out with the wrong crowds. Messes with the wrong things. Ru should be dead. But instead... she wakes up in rehab.

Ayden Monroe, 17, doesn't need to worry about his future-it's already mapped out. Heir to a multimillion-pound legacy, expected to run his father's empire, Ayden's path is paved with privilege. Until his little sister Daisy dies. And Ayden breaks. The fame fades. The cameras vanish. The drugs come faster. Ayden should be dead. But instead... he wakes up in rehab.

Their paths cross in the Pen Mates program, where patients are assigned to write each other letters. It's forced, awkward, and relentless-truth bleeding out in ink long before either of them is ready.

But grief doesn't wait. Healing doesn't ask permission. And sometimes the person you never meant to speak to becomes the one who finally hears you.