The Melody of Silence

Crescendo: (n) A gradual increase in volume or intensity

Alexandra Winger is the quintessential good girl: virtuous daughter of the community's most beloved preacher, straight-A student, and unassuming middle-of-the-pack member of that quiet group of kids who skate through high school unbothered and unnoticed.

Nathan Reynolds is the quintessential bad boy: renegade son of a broken system, notorious juvenile delinquent, and leader of that reckless cluster of kids who haven't been kids since long before they started cutting class and brawling in the high school parking lot.

Together, Alex and Nate are a paradigm of perfect opposites. From their first chance meeting to their last secret rendezvous, they embody every glorious clich of teenage transformation-a by-the-numbers, friends-to-lovers prototype of growth and discovery. Her first kiss-a heady conflagration of innocent need, set alight by the sparking secrecy of a moonless night. His first love-a frothing, hormone-fueled chaos of rabid desire and reverent devotion.

Unfortunately, real life isn't a storybook, true love isn't a romance, and starlit fantasies wilt in the harsh light of day. Young love is a glorious crescendo...

... building to a single, ugly, crashing note of loss.