Spoilers Ahead: 

This comic was one that I saw in my university library and I quite liked the look of. The cover itself isn’t brilliant, but the art style was really cool, so I decided to get it out and try it. 

We follow Callie, or Cal (automatic win, because I adore the name Cal) as she goes through school. She has a crush on Matt’s (her best friend’s) brother, Greg, although Greg wants nothing to do with her, and keeps pining after Bonnie, his ex, who is the certified mean girl in this scenario. 

Cal is part of the theatre society, and they are putting together a show, and Matt starts acting really weird with her and Greg is an asshole, and she finds new friends, Justin and Jesse. They are twins from the year above, and they both sing beautifully. Justin tries out for the play, but Jesse is too scared to. Justin is gay, and develops a crush on the stage director, a fellow student. Meanwhile Cal develops a crush on Jesse, who’s much shyer and more attentive with her. She thinks he likes her back, and so asks him to go to a bookstore, but Justin comes with them? 

Eventually, they get to do the theatre after months of practice, and Bonnie and West, the two main characters who started dating throughout the production, broke up moments before the final show. So, Bonnie locks herself in the toilet and doesn’t come out. Bonnie goes on in her place, dressed up in a bright red dress, and he plays Bonnie’s part for her, and kisses West. 

Afterwards, Jesse is the most sought-out character in the comic, and they have a dance to go to. Jesse asks her to go with him, and halfway through he disappears. She ends up sobbing, because he didn’t tell her where he was going and he lied to her, and she moves on. At the end of the night, she finds him outside with West. Turns out, he has a thing for West. She’s naturally upset, and Greg offers to take her home, but she won’t be a second option, so she walks home by herself. They eventually all make up, and everything is alright in the end. 

I genuinely have never felt heartbreak like it when we found out Jesse was gay. I felt so bad for her, because I thought it was so obvious he liked her, and she was strung along by him, and for him to have the fucking audacity to say she needs to ‘not fall for every guy who’s nice to her’ is FUCKING MENTAL. I think it hit too close to home for me. The book was sweet itself, and it was all going well, but then that happened and it left a bad taste in my mouth. Purely for personal reasons, this book is really cute otherwise. I thought it really cute how they just accepted their sexualities though! It’s a good reaction to it, especially in Cal’s situation, where I can imagine she felt quite put out. That being said, Jesse, you’re the real villain of this story! :)