Baker laughs along with the rest of the gym. She runs a hand through her hair, her smile relaxed and unguarded like it is when she tells Hannah stories late at night. “Hi, y’all,” she says. There were times over the course of their relationship that Hannah would mark as having never been happier. But standing there, foreheads pressed together in the kitchen of their apartment, exchanging soft kisses with sunlight slipping through their curtains—The ones Baker had seen at a thrift shop not too far from their apartment during their first week in New York and fell in love with, “I will break up with you if we don’t get these curtains” She had teased— Hannah knew that it wasn’t really those small warm moments that made her happy. Any moment with Baker could easily be the happiest moment of her life. Shut up. You are disgusting. Bye y’all,” Jisoo says, and then she grabs Jin’s hand and pulls him toward the senior parking lot. I hate all of you, Joanie says. Come on, Luke, let’s go before I change my mind about wanting to hang out with you. Han, will you take my bag home? Jin pulls up his t-shirt in a fit of mania so that the red Tiger Spirit! imprint catches around his armpits and his white undershirt is on full display to everyone across the gym. He makes to take the shirt all the way off, but Lisa elbows him and points down at Mr Kim, whose small, beady eyes are glaring daggers at Jin from beneath the basketball hoop.

My path from self-publishing to traditional publishing. I self-published my first novel, Her Name in the Sky, in 2014. It has sold over 30,000 copies in countries around the world and has been featured on BuzzFeed, Bustle, and AfterEllen. In 2020, my traditional debut, Late to the Party, was published by Roaring Brook Press/Macmillan. You can hear more about my transition from self-publishing to traditional publishing here and here. The most remarkable thing about HNITS’ story is that its success is largely due to word of mouth marketing, especially through the online LGBTQ community. I am eternally grateful to the kind, generous, and brave readers who have embraced Hannah & Baker’s story and pushed the book into other readers’ hands. Lisa narrows her eyes. Chaeyoung looks up from where she’s seated on the floor, and she shakes her head and says, “Oh, no. Don’t even.” Felix snorts, and Lisa shoots him a sideways smirk. Jin looks down at Jisoo with exaggerated pity, almost like she’s not in her right mind.Are you surprised?” Jin calls from the table. “We’re obviously going to use your Epiphany birthday to kill two birds with one stone. What kinds of friends would we be otherwise?” And I realized,” Chaeyoung says, taking a breath, “that there’s one thing I haven’t truly given you yet, and that’s me. My self. My whole self. Without the fear or the shame. Just with love, and abandon.” Her voice shakes, but her eyes are clear. “Is that okay?” Oh, yeah. They spend their nights agonizing about whether Dora the Explorer or Superman would make a better macaroni noodle. And if they make the right choice, they get an award trophy that says, “Congratulations, You Really Used Your Noodle!”

Sorry, Hannah says, leading the way out of the stands. I’m sure tomorrow night or next weekend we’ll be doing something! Luke pulls up his t-shirt in a fit of mania so that the red Tiger Spirit! imprint catches around his armpits and his white undershirt is on full display to everyone across the gym. He makes to take the shirt all the way off, but Hannah elbows him and points down at Mr. Manceau, whose small, beady eyes are glaring daggers at Luke from beneath the basketball hoop. Still, she pushes it down inside of her, buries it as far as it can go, suffocates it in the space between her stomach and her heart. She tells herself that she is stronger, that she can fight it, that she has control. That no one else has to know. Fine.” Jisoo bites a nacho in two and hands Lisa the smaller half. “Don’t say I never did anything for you.” The student body breaks into whooping and applause. It starts in Hannah’s section, with the senior class, and moves all around the gym as the juniors, sophomores, and freshmen echo their older peers. “Yeah!” Luke shouts amidst all the cheering. “Bring on the burritos!”Well hey,” Lisa says, trying to keep the moment light, “even if it doesn’t, we’ll just leave campus and come home for a night.” Kill me now,” Hannah says under her breath. The seniors all around her shoot her conspiratorial smirks. I pity your roommate,” Chaeyoung says while she fits her shampoo into a shower caddy. “You’re going to scare her off with all your bad puns. She’ll be terrified to have a conversation with you.” She needs to get over her jealousy,” Lisa says. “I mean, how long ago was that election? Like four months, at this point?” Front and center,” Chaeyoung says, drawing her fingertips across the cover. She shifts her footing to face Lisa. “Thank you.”