Sunshine

Aaliyah Sanchez was once known as sunshine.

With her wild curls kissed by the sun and a smile that could light up a whole room, the whole town loved her. And she loved the world right back.

Summer lived in her veins. The way it tasted, the way it smelled. The long golden evenings and endless possibilities.

Until the first day of summer after her sophomore year.

The day her mother died, something inside Aaliyah died as well.

Junior year happened behind a screen, her bedroom turned into her classroom and the only place she felt sheltered .

That summer, the girl who once lived outside never stepped into the sun. By the time senior year comes and Aaliyah returns to school. Sunshine doesn't come with her.

Her once bright smile is gone and the happiness she used to radiate has hardened into distance. Her once warm brown doe eyes now look dull and empty, weighed down by grief she can't escape.

She's still here, but she isn't living anymore.

Then Luca Mendoza, once her best friend, and then her enemy, walks back into her life.

Quietly, persistent, and unexpectedly gentle, Luca doesn't try to save her. He reminds her how to laugh without guilt, to feel warmth without pain, to let summer back in. Slowly and carefully.

As Aaliyah slowly starts to heal she must decide whether or not she's ready to open her heart again... and discover that even in the darkest seasons, the sun can still return.