#alicehenry

as a chinese high schooler who also believes in ‘first or nothing’ this book forced me to silently scream multiple times. 

its a mix of all my favourite tropes, especially academic rivals to lovers [i will ALWYAS read academic rivals to lovers] and was a good mix of clever dialogue, imagery and a unique plotline. 

it was also nice to see a more realistic representation of private schools, at least according to my own experience. 

anyways henry li being a swiftie was the moment i knew that he would be my new favourite fictional character. 

okay so i was thinking of alicehenry (because of course i am) and the photograph. yk the one henry has on his desk, the one of both of them on the stage?

i’m just imaging younger henry with his huge crush on alice printing that photo (and even making the effort of laminating it) with pink ears and thinking he’s being irrational and unlike himself but still going along with it. going to his dorm later on and just staring at the picture and about where he should put it. eventually settling on taping it on his desk where he can always always see it. so now when he studies he always has his motivation?!!?? there!! which is alice!! and him!! kabsebbs HE’S ALSO HAD IT FOR YEARS!

i also wonder if they ever talk about it again. and how that conversation goes.

Hi! Sure! It’s no problem, I’d be happy to :)

FIRST PART

‘BEFORE’

It’s in Henry’s pov of one of him and Alice’s classes, they have this history quiz for extra credit and they have to choose teams and people are like fighting over who gets Henry and Alice, they end up in separate teams and the extra credit quiz becomes just them trying to beat each other (bc obviously) but the thing is, the whole time Henry’s thinking about how he loves this, the way Alice glares at him gives him butterflies and if winning against her was the only way she would focus on him and only him then so be it. Their competitions, no matter how little or big it is, means a lot to him. This part also shows how much respect he has for Alice, and also let me show this part “She strides over to him first, her shoulders thrown back, determined not to bend beneath the weight of her defeat. He does not think anything in the world will ever be powerful enough to knock her down.” MY HEART

SECOND PART

DURING

This mentions how Henry has a photographic memory, and that he uses his brain like he does any computer, filtering and filing away the ones that dont matter to him and saving the ones that do, and he mentions that its mostly of alice. like her simple gestures, her scowl, her laughter. it also mentions like the first part of the book where invisible alice visits him in his dorm for the first time, he thought he was hallucinating because he was thinking of her too much! whsbwbseib then skips to that making of the app, how he spent countless sleepless nights perfecting it bc it would make them business partners, therefore getting close to her. he imagines her secret smiles, that she might compliment him and tell him he did a good job, and that is more than enough motivation for him.

then time-skip to another part of the book, the part where Alice is so stressed bc of the countless requests on beijing ghost and her academic responsibilities that when she was about to present something for english she excuses herself to calm down first, henry follows her shortly after and sees her panicking. henry obvi wanted to comfort her but resorted to looking like he was teasing her, which did kind of work bc she ended up angry rather than anxious. here henry admits that theres a part of him that just wants to hold her close and comfort her. then henry tells alice when she’s presenting she should look at him. then she’s like “why would i do that?” and he’s like “because for one my face is nice to look at” then she’s like sarcastic “sure” and he steps forward and is like “are you saying it isnt?” he says like he’s not the one who’s heart is beating rlly fast then like some more teasing then like they agree to it and she delivers the presentation looking at him and he thinks that she’s perfect. (im telling u all henry is the biggest simp)

LAST PART

AFTER (after the events of the book! yay!)

Henry has a nightmare. That last part of the book but instead it was Alice trying to be taken away and like he’s panicking and trying to save her then like they have this exchange of words and you can just feel how panicky he is. then dream alice says nobody can see her and henry says its not true because he sees her then dream alice starts to disappear and he starts calling out to her, shouting her name over and over then he wakes up. He was in his private library, before falling asleep he was there with alice and they were just reading with alice threading her fingers through his hair and him pretending to read and he got sleepy bc of it. which is odd for him because he never takes naps, especially if its accidental, but alice makes him feel relaxed 🥹❤️. so yeah he searches for alice and finds her just beside him she asks if he’s okay bc she heard that he was saying her name in his sleep, his response was to hug her and ask her to not disappear again. and then alice makes a confession about how she too gets nightmares about that night, then she says when she wakes up she’s okay because she knows he’s there, so everythings going to be okay <3

This is the part where it switches to alice’s pov again and like theyre on a study date, well alice assumed it was a study date, henry wanted a date date lmao, alice tries to make it up to him and says they should do some romantic stuff and like this funny part where she points out a store with a bunch of hearts and she says that that place looks romantic and henry says that its a lingerie shop, he of course laughs at her (tho he tries to hide it) henry then suggests they should just have dinner. then like on the way to the restaurant, theyre already abt to go in when they bump into alice’s aunt and her friends and like one of her aunt’s friends saw henry, confirmed he was rich, and tried to set him up with her daughter, which he henry thought was funny (this is in alice’s pov but like she just knows) alice speaks up and says henry is her boyfriend, lin ayi (aunt’s friend) said like an offensive ‘you?’ then henry says that he fell for alice first slightly colder than before (henry mad but calm) then they were abt to go in when lin ayi heard they were going to eat in the vip section and subtly suggests (if you could even call it subtle) if they (the 3 aunties) could join, henry gives the choice to alice and alice agrees. henry and alice walk in holding hands and henry starts pulling a chair for alice to sit down on, and henry whispers “how have i been?” like how has his ‘performance’ been because he knows alice wants to show him off, like a subtle counterattack to that lin ayi, he says he’s happy to oblige and wants to know if he’s performing up to standard (his words not mine), alice says (a lil annoyed but not tone) “you’ve been very good. happy?”

this is his legit response i had to share the whole paragraph.

henry confirmed golden retriever type in private black cat in public.

and because he’s happy alice praised him he even says he’ll treat the aunties. lin ayi pretends to be ashamed (is still the first one to order very plenty and expensive food) (god, lin ayi annoyed me sm) okay and theres the dinner and stuff then she asks if henry can drink, he’s legal so yeah he can, she even tries to pressure alice into drinking, henry says he’ll drink for her. then theres this drinking competition of henry and the aunties. of course henry would not back out. so yeah this happens and lin ayi (now obviously drunk) brings up her daughter again (she just never gives up) and asks if he’s sure he’s in a committed relationship and that theyre still young and they (alice & henry) can break up, when that happens and stuff her daughter is available (like alice isnt sitting right there). then henry completely shuts her down by saying he’s certain that she’s in a committed relationship, he’s never been certain of anything more in his life, and that if they were to ever be separated he would not be of sound heart or mind to even look at anybody else. then someone calls on lin ayi’s phone and she leaves and theyre finally alone (2 aunties r elsewhere a while ago). so yeah henry wins the drinking game, once all aunties were gone he finally lets go of his act and slumps and YES DRUNK HENRY

He says like “I won” with a smile. shes like “uh sorry what r u trying to achieve here?” and hes like “you havent told me yet” shes like “told you what” and alice is like confused lmao, and henry pouts POUTS then like more cute stuff im sorry im not going into too much detail im missing a bunch of stuff out then like henry begins to say his recent achievements to her like how he’s one of the reasons his dads company like rising revenue, how he was one of the ppl invited to talk at this big event and he’s the youngest one there, and he says “you’re not impressed?” and alice finally realizes what he wants to hear her say, then alice like chuckles and says “henry, come on. i’m always impressed by you.”

then she takes him to the car and helps him in he asks, looking more sleepy than drunk, “you’re coming, aren’t you? you won’t leave?” (he’s so cute ejdjen) then some exchanging of words then he starts getting a little clingy and says “alice i miss you, i miss you now.” “but i’m here.” “i know. that’s when it’s worse, almost. your presence… it’s overwhelming. i cannot imagine the absence of it. i don’t want to. does that make sense?” then alice strokes his hair and says “it does. but i won’t give you the chance to miss me that much. i’ll always be with you. you know that, don’t you?” then henry says with a small soft smile “i know everything.”