Lochan Whitely (17) and Maya Whitely (16) were very close since they were young. They became more like friends than siblings. After their father abandons the family and ran off with another woman five years ago, their mother turned to the bottle and neglected her children. Slowly, Lochan and Maya became de facto parents of their younger siblings Kit (13), Tiffin (8), and Willa (5).
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Lochan, who is crippling shy and has high social anxiety. Even though his teacher Miss Azley tries to encourage him to talk or read one of his brilliant papers he still refuses to talk in class. The only people he ever felt comfortable with was his family.
Maya, has an easy going personality and doesn't have as high social anxiety as her brother. One of her closest friends, Francie talks to her how cute Lochan is and wants to get to know him better and Maya should go on a date with the other hottest guy at school Nico Dimarco. Maya says that she will think about it but has to go and pick up Tiffin and Willa.
The Whitely household is in a disarray. Lochan and Maya not only has not clean the house, cook dinner, look over Tiffin's homework, entertain Willa, try to control their rebellious younger brother Kit, and do their own homework, they soon see each other as the only friend who understands their struggle.
Though the household dynamics are changing as Kit starts to question Lochan's authority over the house. He is openly smoking in front of Lochan and Maya, and he is openly swearing at them. Maya tries to keep the peace between the brothers.
The kids are put under stressful situation but they stay quiet about their situation because they are afraid to be taken away by the Foster Care System and be split up. They try to keep the illusion that their mother is home, by saying that she is out on business trips or work late in the evening. Though Lochan and Maya knows that they are times when they have to twist their mother's arm to get some money to pay for their basic needs while their mom runs off to her boyfriend's place and drinks most of the day.
After a few weeks Nico asks Maya out for a date. Maya says she will need to think about it. She goes home and asks Lochan if it is ok to go on the date on Friday and he can stay home with the kids. Lochan refuses Maya to go out because he is afraid that his only friend will be pulled away and he will be alone in the world so he says no. Maya being mad, gangs up on Lochan with Kit saying that Lochan is not the boss of them. Lochan reluctantly agrees that Maya can go on a date but she has to be home by eleven.
Maya goes out to meet with Nico all she can think is about Lochan. When she comes home with Nicco and when they are about to kiss Maya relaises that she can't kiss Nico. She rejects him and goes inside where she sees Lochan waiting for her in their living room. She can tell he is angry as she was an hour late and apologize for being late. Lochan presses if she kissed Nico. She does not want to talk about it. Though as their argument gets heated, she turns to Lochan and kisses him. He kisses her back.
Maya believes that all they will have to do is to change their names and can live happily ever after in a different town. Lochan sees the realities saying that there is no happily ever after because no matter what it will look as though he forced himself onto Maya. He knows that in the eyes of society will not see their love as anything but wrong even though it feels so right.
Best part of story, including ending:
I like this story because it touches another part of incest that I think has not been explored before, even though incest is wrong, the story of Lochan and Maya makes it as though they were only meant for each other, and it is hard not to root their relationship to succeeded.
Best scene in story:
There are two scenes I enjoyed, the first one was when Lochan saved enough money, by doing other people's homework, to give Maya a Christmas gift. It was the first Christmas gift Maya received in years and the scene was touching. They were outside of the school yard being the bleachers where no one can see them. It was a very intimate and loving moment for those two, and made me wish that the scene will never end. My other favorite part was when Lochan gets sent to the police after the charge of raping Maya (he doesn't) and the reason they found out was because Kit told their mother and the police. The look on Kit's face when he understands that he will never see his brother again and destroyed their family dynamic and running to the police car saying that he is sorry and Lochan forgives him. That brings tears all the time.
Opinion about the main character:
I liked Lochan for his commitment for the family and going up and above the measure of trying to protect them.
