Lilikoʻi has been walking around with Max’s phone number in her memory ever since fourth grade—ever since she and Ryley stole his notebook so they could “return” it and finally talk to him. That was six years ago, during summer school at Sacred Hearts, when Lilikoʻi wore her poodle skirt and her Tūtū’s cat glasses for the ’50s party. It was the summer she first noticed mysterious blurs and felt ghostly chills outside her classroom, too. Like Hawai‘i itself, Sacred Hearts was full of memory. Over the years, Lilikoʻi thought of Max again and again—especially when her folks split up and Tūtū passed away. But she never called. Until now. In the middle of tenth grade, Max answers. He’s awkward and funny; not at all the strong silent type she’d thought. And he lets her call every single day, even though he’s moving away. But the closer they become, the more terrified she is to meet him face-to-face and let him see the person she’s been lately—withdrawn and sad, numb to the wind and rain of the island, to its moon and stars, its rocks and clay and volcanic flowers. Not present. Not how Tūtū taught her. Meanwhile, the ghostly figures around the school are getting clearer—and closer. But time is running out. Can she possibly stop running—and finally breathe?

Ghosting Aloha is a unique YA novel set on the island of O‘ahu and written collaboratively by a team of students in grades seven through twelve at Sacred Hearts Academy. Drawing from their own lives, friendships, fears, and the real-life lore of the school, the student writers came together to create an original story for Hawai‘i teens—and readers around the world.