"More than a stunning debut. It is the announcement of a bold new literary voice"
—Stephen Chbosky, author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Growing up with you was so magical and long-lasting. Being able to say we knew each other since second grade is so special but it is even more meaningful now. I knew you had a heart condition but I didn’t know it was something deadly, or atleast I didn’t want to think that it was. In fact, I don’t even think you knew it was. Being able to imagine us being princesses and dancing and singing in the rain in the street like nobody was watching was magical. You loved to copy me and do the things I did, and I hated it back then, I didn’t understand like I did now. It hurt when the pastor read a summary of you and as I looked around it almost looked like it would be mine since the similarities we had. I will never forgot how radiant you looked a month before you passed when we were at the movies. You finally had gotten your braces off and you smiled just because you loved the feeling of it. And to go from that to seeing you at the funeral was hard, seeing you in a casket was hard. It was like you were going to sit up at any second and ask,”Hey, what are you doing?” with your unforgettable laugh. When I found out the day you died I was numb, and I kept it together decently as time went on. It was for everyone else, I didn’t want my mom to keep being sad for me and come randomly in my door and ask how I was or to have my family worried in general. But sometimes, when people ask, and it has been 2 years now, I lose it. Today is one of those days. You were so beautiful and pure, and I feel the world just couldn’t handle that. It hurts to know you will never have your first love or to graduate high school, or to know how you would’ve been 10 years from now. My best friend, I miss you like crazy and although it’s been 2 years, my emotions don’t seem to stop. It’s an ache in my heart, kind of like your aches you would tell me about. I bet you look beautiful up there, I just miss you so much.