Zara Marlow has spent eighteen years waiting for her life to start.
Her mother just disappeared to Melbourne without leaving a note. Her father lives in his office. Her twin brother Noah barely speaks to her. And her best friend since childhood — Sloane Clement, head prefect, golden girl, certified snake — has spent the past six months methodically dismantling Zara’s reputation one whisper at a time. By the time the year-twelve trust fall ends with a bone-shattering punch, the war is officially on.
Then there’s Asher Dillon. The boy across the road. Insomniac, infuriating, fluent in nineteenth-century insults, and the one person Sloane has ever wanted. So when Asher offers Zara a bargain — be his fake girlfriend in exchange for the perfect revenge — she says yes, because what could possibly go wrong?
Just about everything.
Across one volatile final year of school — through trashed cars, hidden cameras, midnight phone calls, hospital waiting rooms, a missing little brother, and a kayak in dirt-water — Zara discovers that revenge is sweet, but it isn’t free. And that the boy she’s been pretending to love might be the one person who actually sees her.
