The Walls Between Us by Advik Gupta

Ethan Carter has perfected the art of being invisible.

At school, he keeps his head down, stays in the corner, and lets everyone else live their loud, complicated lives. After a painful experience with someone he once trusted, Ethan has built walls around himself—and he has no intention of letting anyone tear them down.

Then there's Olivia Bennett.

She's everything Ethan isn't: confident, popular, effortlessly charming, and seemingly comfortable in a world where everyone knows her name. When a history project forces them into the same group, Ethan expects nothing more than a few weeks of uncomfortable teamwork.

He doesn't expect Olivia to start sitting beside him.

He doesn't expect her to notice the things everyone else overlooks.

And he definitely doesn't expect her to keep finding ways through the walls he's spent years building.

As their unlikely friendship grows into something neither of them is ready to name, rumors begin spreading through the school. But while everyone else is wondering whether Ethan and Olivia are becoming a couple, Ethan is struggling with a much bigger question:

What happens when the person you've been trying to keep out is the person you can't imagine living without?

The Walls Between Us is a slow-burn high school romance about friendship, vulnerability, first love, and learning that sometimes the strongest walls are the ones we build ourselves.