"Hayden. Can I kiss you?"

Fifteen-year-old Hayden loves a lot of things?nature, art, good food, and the colorful life he's built for himself. There's only one thing he definitely doesn't love: Jayce, the boy who has bullied him for years.

Jayce is Hayden's complete opposite. He's loud, vulgar, always dressed in dark colors, and seemingly certain that he has nothing in common with Hayden. As far as Hayden knows, Jayce is straight?and completely out of his league. Unfortunately, that hasn't stopped Hayden from thinking he's cute.

Then a new bully arrives at school, and suddenly Jayce's life is in danger.

Reluctantly, Hayden agrees to help the boy who has made his life miserable, expecting nothing but trouble. Instead, he discovers a side of Jayce he never knew existed?and begins to wonder if the person he thought he knew was only a mask.

But as their unlikely friendship grows into something more, the challenges surrounding them become harder to escape. Between bullying, family problems, and the frightening uncertainty of first love, Hayden has to decide how much he's willing to risk for someone who was never supposed to matter to him.

Can Hayden survive his first love?

A tender coming-of-age story about first love, family, bullying, and two boys learning that people are rarely as simple as they seem.