Until Friday Night

To everyone who knows him, West Ashby has always been that guy: the cocky, popular, way-too-handsome-for-his-own-good football god who led Lawton High to the state championships. Although West presents himself as a big man on campus, he is really struggling with the sadness that comes with seeing his father's disease progressively take away from him.

Maggie Carleton's life came to an end two years ago when her father killed her mother. Additionally, she stopped talking and hasn't talked since telling the police what had transpired. Maggie remained in her new home in Lawton, Alabama, despite the change. She chose to remain silent in order to conceal her grief and broken heart.

West knows he has to speak to someone about his father when his suffering becomes too hard to bear, so in the shadows of a post-game party, he confides in the one person he knows won't tell anyone else.

West anticipated that talking about his father would help, or at the very least, cause an overwhelming wave of emotions. However, he had no idea that the reserved new girl would respond, that she was suffering just as much as he was, or that their bond would grow to the point that he would never be able to let her go.