I
first met Salva and Beth in the middle of a collision. Papers, pencils, the contents
of Beth’s backpack, and point of view everywhere!
Yet
neither of them bothered to introduce themselves. Oh, no; they were both far
too busy telling me about each other. According to her, he was one of those “patronizing—and annoying—organized people.” And according to him, she was “the walking disaster area.”
There
was plenty of evidence to support both claims. Though I got no names out of
that collision, and I had no idea there was a book coming.
I
didn’t find that out until Pepe shoved Salva into the prologue. Pepe is Salva’s
best friend, and he’s pretty certain he knows what Salva needs: by this I mean
who Salva should date, what sport he should play, what he should do with his
life, where he should go to college, and when Salva should be brave enough to introduce
himself to an author—aka yours truly—and demand that author write his story.
In
this case, Pepe was right: Salva has a heck of a story.
If
I wanted to be cheesy, I could pitch it as “Perfect
Chemistry meets Romeo & Juliet;”
but then you’d assume you know the end. And you don’t.
Because
you can’t. Until you know Salva & Beth.
