OliviaHolsapple
Everyone seems to move at the same rhythm. Eli Carter doesn't.
At seventeen, Eli has learned how to make sure nobody notices.
He's tough, quiet, and known around school for boxing. He doesn't start fights, but he knows how to finish them, and he isn't the kind of person people mess with twice. At the gym, things make sense. There are rules, patterns, timing. You watch your opponent, react, and keep moving.
Outside the ring, it's different.
Eli has ADHD and autism, but most people would never guess. He's learned how to hide the things that don't come naturally to him-how to keep conversations going, remember what he's supposed to be doing, deal with distractions, and ignore the constant noise in his head. Everyone else seems to know the rhythm of life without thinking about it.
Eli is always a beat behind.
Then there's Maya Bennett.
She's smart, straightforward, and completely unimpressed by Eli's reputation. When they're paired together for a school project, neither of them expects to become friends. But Maya starts noticing things other people don't-the way Eli remembers small details, the way he goes quiet when there's too much happening around him, and how different he is when he's at the boxing gym.
The closer Maya gets, the harder it becomes for Eli to keep everything separate.
The boxer everyone thinks they know.
The version of himself he shows everyone else.
And the person he actually is.
For the first time, Eli has to decide whether letting someone get close is worth letting them see the parts of him he's spent years keeping hidden.
Because the world keeps moving to the same rhythm.
Eli just has to figure out where he fits in it.