Sweet Nothing Left to Prove

Juniper Beckett has spent years building a life on campus-a life where she never has to look over her shoulder for her father's approval, disappointment, or anger.

As a child, Juniper was raised as the son her father always wanted. Her hair was cut short, she was enrolled in boys' sports, and she was forced to answer to the name Jasper. Every attempt to express herself was met with resistance, until one humiliating moment on a football field changed everything. Standing in front of her teammates, terrified and overwhelmed after getting her first period, Juniper finally realized she couldn't keep living someone else's life.

Now a Sports Journalism major determined to tell stories on her own terms, Juniper has become an expert at staying away. Away from the house where her father blamed her for the car accident that killed her older brother, Evan. Away from the memories that still haunt her. Away from the little brother she loves but barely knows.

Every year, a simple FaceTime call with her mother and toddler brother Justin reminds her of everything she's lost-and everything she's afraid of losing forever.

On campus, Juniper projects confidence, refusing to let anyone define her. She hides behind sharp words, stubborn independence, and the belief that she doesn't need anyone's approval. But beneath the surface, she's still struggling with the scars left behind by a childhood spent being told she was never enough-not feminine enough, not masculine enough, not the child her father wanted.

Then John Logan crashes into her carefully constructed world.

As their connection grows from reluctant friendship into something neither of them expected, Logan becomes the first person to see the real Juniper: the girl who dyed pink streaks into her hair as an act of rebellion, the sister terrified of being forgotten, and the daughter carrying grief that was never hers to bear.