Author's note

I've never written a book before. Ever. But I've read. I read a lot. So much so that my sister had to snatch my book out of my hand and hide it so I'd talk.

And the conversation basically went like:

Lil sis- Stop reading for one minute. This is track camp. Not a book club. Socialize with the other kids.

Me- But I don't like people.

(I don't know why I said that because I'm one of the most chatty people you'll ever meet. I just get nervous meeting new people)

Come to think of it, I still haven't gotten that book back by the way.

The base for "Mine" was indeed inspired by events that did happen. And Rio is a character based off of me. I do have a cousin who lives with me. And I did dare said cousin, Alessia, to do this 365 kisses thing for a year as a joke. But it didn't exactly go as planned.

Basically, I didn't expect them to say yes and agree to it. It kept up for a couple of weeks. By then, my cousin had already had her first kiss when this happened. And they were both fine with it since they were just friends. I was the one that was reluctant to letting them do this.

But then all this drama happened and it got out of control. The dare was soon cut off. So after this happened, I got to thinking. What if this dare continued for a year like it was supposed to? What if they had been the hesitant ones and not me? What if something actually happened between them?
What if what if what if.

I told this to the guy she did the dare with (I don't want to expose his name so I'm just gonna call him Billy) and his response was, and I quote, "Honestly if something did happen between us, it'd be the most awkward, funny complicated relationship of all time that somebody would actually have to write a book about it."

So what did I do?

I wrote a book about it.

This story is what I think should've happened with this whole dare. I couldn't read the minds of Alessia and Billy so I made up a story where I could. Not everything in this book actually happened and not everything the characters do is what we did or what we would've done. Rio, for example? Her family is inspired by mine. But some of the things she does are things I wouldn't even imagine doing. You feel me?

I'm a big person on diversity. Differences in general. I want to be sure to include different races, different sexual orientations, different ways of life and different thoughts. I don't want it to be a cliche. I want everybody to get something out of this book. I want everybody to be represented at least once. I want everybody to enjoy it.

And if you're reading this, then this is for you. You know how it is when the author dedicated their book to, once again, somebody that you don't know at all and not you. Not today. Not in this one.

I may have never met you. I may never meet any of the people who read this book. I may have seen you on the street passing by. I may have been friends with you long ago. I may have been crazy about you. We may be besties now. We may be related. Who knows?  All I know is that I am here for you. Whatever you're going through, even if I will never understand, just know that I'm rooting for you.

Always.

So, whoever you are, and wherever you may be, this one's for you.