Seventeen-year-old Neon (Black) is standing in the bathroom at his girlfriend, Aria’s, house, excited and nervous about their plans for the evening: to have sex for the first time. From this opening scene, the story spins back in time—first 24 seconds from that moment, then 24 days, 24 weeks, 24 months—all the way back to when he and Aria (Black) first met. All of the good and bad and awkward and affirming conversations that Nee has had with people in his life (mom, dad, older sister, friends) about sex and relationships play out. So, too, do details of his and Aria’s relationship. There’s clear trust and love and respect between them, and the decision to have sex is one they’ve come to mutually, even as their future is uncertain (Nee feels college is not for him; Aria already has scholarship offers). Throughout the story, as senior year winds down, Nee is working on a project for his class’s digital yearbook, asking classmates to sum up high school in three words—their answers (like the conversations Nee has had about sex) are insightful, funny, and surprising. Then the story returns to where it started, in that bathroom, and Nee opens the door. “We pull each other. Me and Aria. Meet in the middle. Of ourselves. As ourselves.”

A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner
A New York Times Bestseller
Seven starred reviews!

“Jason Reynolds has done it again!...Fresh from start to finish…This is what it could be, should be, if only we were all as lucky as Aria. Girls (and everyone) wait for your Neon!” —Judy Blume, New York Times bestselling author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Forever...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds tackles it—you know…it—from the guy’s perspective in this stream of consciousness story of a teen boy about to experience a huge first. “Reynolds’s foray into romance is as spectacular as expected…Undoubtedly, a story for everyone” (Booklist, starred review).

Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren’t for the dog’s owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine.

Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon’s dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven’t taken that next big step…yet, they’ve starting talking about…that.

Twenty-four days ago: Neon’s mom finds her—gulp—bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he’d figured he’d better practice, what with the big day only a month away.

Twenty-four minutes ago: Neon leaves his shift at work at his dad’s bingo hall, making sure to bring some chicken tenders for Aria. They’re not candlelight and they definitely aren’t caviar, but they are her favorite.

And right this second? Neon is locked in Aria’s bathroom, completely freaking out because twenty-four seconds from now he and Aria are about to…about to… Well, they won’t do anything if he can’t get out of his own head (all the advice, insecurities, and what ifs) and out of this bathroom!