BETWEEN YOU AND ME

LIGHTS UP: ACT I MY BEDROOM. SEPTEMBER. THREE MONTHS AGO. EVENING. Close up. There are heart shaped pink sunglasses. Hiding a face. Music plays.. Cut to: wide shot. Girl lies on her bed, propped on her elbows, chin in her hands. Phyre, 15, that's me! And this is my assignment: to tell the story of the past three months of my life, however I see it. This is the picture I have. ME Come in. Close the door behind you.

A teenager nicknamed Phyre knows there is something life-changing about her new drama teacher, Mia, the moment Mia makes her first entrance into Phyre's life. As Phyre spends time in class and in rehearsals for the school play, she comes to realize that the feelings she has for Mia go deeper than she's ever experienced with an older person. Or a teacher. Or a woman. Meanwhile, Phyre's best friend-addressed throughout the story in the second person, as "You"-stands by, ready to help Phyre make sense of her feelings. But just as Mia doesn't understand what Phyre feels, Phyre can't fathom the depth of her best friend's feelings. until it's almost too late for a happy ending. Written as a novel within a play, PHYRE's unusual structure, the uncertain gender of "You," and the story's ambiguous ending, all these elements open discussions on the nature of love and the complexity of real-life drama. With a gentle romantic tone, debut novelist Marisa Calin handles this emotional exploration with tenderness and sensitivity. Marisa Calin was born in the US, grew up in Bath, England, then moved to New York City at the age of eighteen to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and pursue her dreams of being an actress. She is still in hot pursuit, and when not on stage or on set uses all her spare time and training to create vivid character-driven worlds on paper. This is her debut novel.