Hopelessly (or Hospitally) Romantic

-For three years, Ivy May has been hopelessly in love with a boy who has no clue she exists in any meaningful way.
And honestly? She can't blame him.

Ninth grade is basically one giant rom-com for everyone but her. Her friends jump from relationship to relationship like it's an Olympic sport, the hallways are filled with couples holding hands like it's their full-time job, and Ivy... Ivy is just there. Watching.
Smiling.
Giving advice.

Because Ivy May is the therapist's friend. The one everyone vents to, cries to, trusts.
Everyone except herself.

She's never had a relationship. Not even close.
Partly because she's picky... but mostly because she's too busy battling her own invisible storms: chronic illness flare-ups that keep her home for days, mental health dips she hides behind jokes, and a body that seems determined to slow her down while the world keeps rushing past.

So she watches her friends fall in love, fall apart, and fall again, while she falls... asleep. A lot. Usually under a pile of blankets.

But then there's Liam Reyes, the boy she's quietly adored for years. The boy whose laugh she could recognize anywhere. The boy who suddenly starts looking at her like he's seeing more than the quiet girl who's always missing from group photos.

Ivy doesn't know what terrifies her more.
The idea that someone might finally like her back...
Or the idea that she might actually deserve it.