The Hallandale Pretenders

When Jonah Rosen lands in Hallandale for spring break, a seventeen-year-old college prodigy pretending to be cooler than he is must survive a week of football, beer runs, and half-truths before the girl he likes sees through him-and the boy he's pretending to be falls apart.

Jonah Rosen has spent his life being the smart kid. Brilliant, awkward, and always a little out of step with everyone around him, he reaches Hallandale expecting a break from New York and instead finds a vacation where identity is as fluid as the tide.

At his grandparents' condo, Jonah is pulled into a restless circle of visiting teens: Rob, the smooth-talking social director; Myla, the girl who seems to know exactly who she is; Jenny, whose attention feels like sunlight; and Jeff, a reckless rival who can see a fake from across the pool. Jonah tells a few lies to fit in. Then a few more. Soon he's playing football, buying beer, dodging trouble, and trying to keep his real self buried.

But spring break has a way of exposing what people want most-and what they're willing to pretend not to feel. When the week turns from flirtation to competition to confrontation, Jonah has to decide whether belonging is worth the cost of becoming someone else.