“Better Than the Movies” by Lynn Painter follows Liz Buxbaum, a high school senior obsessed with rom-coms, who enlists her neighbor and enemy Wes to help her win over her childhood crush, Michael. As Liz schemes, she and Wes develop complicated feelings for each other, forcing her to question her idealized vision of romance and realize that real life, with all its messiness, can be better than the movies.
Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter 