Particles

Turns out the guy Mike kissed is a closeted jock. And he goes to his school.

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In the small mountain town of Elswood, Colorado, Mike has always known exactly what his future looks like: Harvard, law school, success. But when a chance encounter introduces him to Zach, a closeted football player, his carefully planned life begins to unravel. And so does Zach's.

Around them, a group of nerdy friends learn to support each other and fight together against life's injustices. Danny, who has spent his life convinced he's a screw-up, discovers unexpected purpose in standing up for his friends. Ayesha, the brilliant perfectionist behind the school's ambitious theatre production, struggles beneath the weight of everyone's expectations. Michelle, isolated and targeted for being trans, learns that friendship can be a kind of armor. And Zach must decide whether living the life his family demands is worth sacrificing the life he actually wants.

As books are exchanged, friendships deepen, romances bloom, and old certainties fall apart, each of them is forced to confront who they are and who they want to become. Together they discover that growing up isn't about having a plan, it's about finding the courage to be true to oneself.

Warm, funny, and deeply heartfelt, Particles is a coming-of-age novel about friendship, identity, first love, and the invisible connections that shape our lives, one small collision at a time.

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Content warnings for homofobia, transphobia, implied domestic abuse.