Thank you to my sensational editor, Eileen, for making this book happen in all the ways! Thank you to the spectacular team at Wednesday Books for being so encouraging and collaborative. Thank you to DJ, Mary, Tiffany, and Kerri for all the amazing work you do.

Kat O’Keeffe! Thank you for being the first person to read the Better Together outline (and first full draft) in its raw AF form. Thank you for helping me steer it in the right direction. I’m always so grateful for your feedback and support.

Thank you, Dr. Kait McCormick-Huhn, for reading this book in its raw, super-long second-draft form! Thank you for encouraging me over the phone whenever I got neurotic and anxious about any aspect of this story, every step of the way. Your light and positivity pulled me out of so many spirals during this process. I’m so lucky to have the most amazing soul sister best friend in the universe.

Thank you to my wonderful cousin Holly Springhorn for reading this in its early form! Your feedback means so much to me. All your commentary was so helpful, heartwarming, and reassuring. I love you! Thank you so much.

Julia Friley! Thank you for helping me sort through this plot before I ever put pen to paper. Thank you for reading act one multiple times and giving me amazingly detailed notes once you finished the draft. The book did not feel complete until I got your two cents!

Thank you to Umer Durrani, Mina Divinagracia, Morgan Paige, Tiernan Bertrand-Essington, and Emma Giordano for providing such insightful, critical feedback and guidance during the drafting process!

Thank you to Jenna Presto, Jesse George, Kristina Marjieh, and Natasha Polis for your endless support, kindness, and patience throughout this long, intense year of drafting. Thank you for previewing parts of this story and sharing your thoughts and feels!

Thank you, Alex Ling, for sharing behind-the-scenes info about that ballet company auditioning life! Juan, thank you for the encouragement and love during all the intense, chaotic late nights of writing! Thanks for staying up to the wee hours to be there to celebrate with me when I finished.

Thank you, Mom and Nana, for the ocean of love and support you’ve so generously shared during my most intense moments of anxiety and self-doubt.

To my siblings Paul and Olivia, did you finish this one? Do you know that acknowledgments exist? Did you ever read the Again, but Better ones? XD Thanks for being here now (if you’re here). Thanks for inspiring various aspects of these characters’ personalities, likes, and dislikes. I love y’all. I live for the moments when the three of us are all on the same team.