You, your mom, and little brother have moved all over America—new towns, new schools, new starts. Now, you've landed in California. A fresh start, again. You're starting 11th grade—Junior year—and for once, things aren’t terrible.

You actually make friends. Real ones. The kind you eat lunch with, go to parties with, share secrets and smuggled snacks with. Sure, they’ve got their issues—mental health struggles, broken homes, weed smoked in joints or from old bongs—but they’re your people now. Messy, complicated, but real.

And yeah, you fall for someone in the group—your first boyfriend, Felix. Sweet. Kind. Safe. The kind of person who texts good morning and asks if you got home okay. The kind of boy you’re supposed to want. But the one who really catches your attention?

Sebastian Kydd.

He’s not part of the group. He lives right across the street. And—he’s your best friend’s twin brother. His bedroom window faces yours. Sometimes, late at night, when the world quiets down and the streetlights hum low, you catch each other through the glass. No words, just a nod. A smile. A lazy wave. Sometimes you both just sit there, doing your own thing. It’s nothing. It’s everything. And you don’t know what to do with it—especially when you’ve got Felix, and Sebastian is your best friend’s twin.

Sebastian isn’t the kind of guy who walks into a room and makes a scene. Tall, lean, always a little disheveled—like he just rolled out of bed and didn’t care enough to fix it. But somehow, it works. He rides that fine line between mystery and disaster like it’s second nature.

He’s quiet. Not shy. There’s a difference. He talks when he has something to say. His words are blunt, sometimes cutting, but never fake. He doesn’t play pretend. Doesn’t do small talk.

There’s a softness under all that sarcasm and weed smoke. You see it when he talks to his sister. When his voice cracks a little and he pretends it didn’t. You see it in the way he looks at you. Sure, he’s sarcastic—but he’s also funny. Sweet, in his own way.

He is the kind of boy you don’t realize you’re falling for until you already have. The kind who makes your heart ache even when he’s right there.

He carries his sadness like a shadow—quiet, always there, even when the sun’s out. He doesn’t talk about it much. Not directly. It shows up in the pauses between sentences, in the way he shrugs like nothing matters. In the days he doesn’t come to school. Once, when you were sharing a joint on his windowsill—legs hanging out over the edge he told you about his childhood best friend—how cancer took him fast, too fast. He said that changed everything. That depression’s a shitty thing. Some mornings, he doesn’t get out of bed. Some nights, he doesn’t sleep at all.

You two can talk about everything—stuff you don’t tell anyone else. He’s the one person you feel like you can really be yourself with, he just... listens. No judgment. No pretending. But then you make a mistake. You hook up with him, cheating on Felix. Everything’s on fire. The friend group? Implodes. Whispers in the halls, side-eyes, your best friend feels betrayed. And Sebastian? He doesn’t say much, just shows up at your window the same way he always has. Still there. Still him. It takes time—so much time—but things eventually start to settle. People move on. Or at least, stop caring so much. And you and Sebastian? You stop hiding. You stop lying. You stop pretending you don’t want what’s been there this whole time. And eventually, you and Sebastian start dating—publicly this time.

Things are finally back to normal—life’s good, friendships are good, the relationship’s good, sex is good. Mom is still an issue nothing new there. But lately, Sebastian’s been acting different. More distant in conversations, quieter when you walk the school halls together. And Smokes pot more then normal.

Then one night, a knock on your door. It’s Sebastian, that distant look on his face.

"Hey, I think my depression’s back. And, uh... I don’t want to drag you down with it. So…I’m breaking up with you. I’m sorry."