Back to September: Phil Foden
Gabriella James never stood out at school. To most, she was just "the quiet, nerdy girl" - the one buried in books, ignored in corridors, invisible to the people who mattered.
But everything changes when Year 11 begins. After a summer of growth, confidence, and a glow-up nobody saw coming, Gabriella walks back through the school gates... and suddenly, people notice. He notices.
Phil Foden: the golden boy. Popular, sporty, the lad everyone knows. He'd never looked Gabriella's way before - not until now.
What starts as stolen glances in classrooms and awkward encounters in crowded hallways grows into something neither of them expected: a messy, confusing, slow-burning connection that changes the way they see themselves - and each other.
But school doesn't last forever. And as Phil's talent takes him beyond the walls of their small-town high school and onto the biggest stages in football, both of them will have to learn what it really means to hold onto someone - and what it means to let go.
Because first love is never simple. And sometimes, noticing each other is just the beginning.