In her final year of university, Blaire Kwan is determined to do everything right. Including juggling a Psychology dissertation, the final year workload, making her post-graduate plans happen, and stepping into her role as captain of Hartell University's all-girl competitive cheerleading team.
Last year, the Hartell Heartbreakers had suffered a blow to their reputation after a humiliating disqualification. But Blaire has made it her life's mission as their new captain to claw their way back to the top, to earn back the gold that once gilded their name. Forced to work with a completely inexperienced, fresh-faced team, Blaire knows she has her work cut out for her this year.
When a freak accident in the beginning of their season sets Blaire's plans back by a mile, the already threadbare team is pared down to below the minimum number of cheerleaders.
Enter: sophomore Maude Lin, a prolific tumbler and fractured isolationist. Blaire knows that she doesn't have much of a choice, especially since Maude's talent for tumbling could potentially push their team to the top. And even though Maude's attitude problem, her inability to be a team player and her constant attempts to resist Blaire's efforts to assimilate her into the team seem to throw a wrench into her plans, Blaire is not giving up.
Granted, that's not the only issue Blaire has to work through.
There's the unfortunate Pandora's box of Blaire's unrequited feelings for her best friend's twin brother, Alex Halstead, vice-captain of the men's basketball team.
When Alex is referred to a newly developed campus dating app and set up on dates by their other friends, the box comes unlocked, spilling every ugly emotion that Blaire has repressed for the sake of their close friendship. Since freshman year, Blaire has only thought of Alex as one of her best friends—second only to Addy. But now, Blaire can't seem to understand the convoluted feelings emerging within her while watching Alex—sunbright and devastatingly handsome and too generous for his own good Alex—fall for someone else.
What hurts is that Blaire knows she has to steer clear of the duplicitous "girl best friend" trope. Which means laying down a respectable distance between Alex and herself. Choosing her best friend's happiness before her own.
The thing is, while Alex might be slightly clueless, he's not completely obtuse. He knows she's pulling back for his sake, and yet, he refuses to accept it. His stubborn efforts to reconnect with her, going out of his way to catch her attention, and the multiple attempts at point-blank confrontation is starting to unravel her.
Alas, Blaire is determined to do everything right. And no one has ever entered a battle of wills with Blaire Kwan and emerged unscathed.
Besides, she's got bigger fish to fry than worrying about a boy. There's Regionals coming up, and a legacy to reinstate. And yet, the more Alex pushes against the barrier she's set up between them, the more Blaire finds her self control slipping.
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BLAIRE KWAN
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