Effortless

<p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Elias Richardson needs to be the best.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>After skipping the second grade and maintaining a 4.0 GPA throughout his school years the next check off his list is to become class president. After that? Valedictorian. The only thing standing in his way is the one he could never seem to his insufferably perfect rival.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Javier Cortez is everything Eli envied. He's a people magnet with natural smarts captivating good looks and maddening charm. Javier has had the school wrapped around his finger from the moment he waltzed through its double doors.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>It being the rivals' senior year means it is Eli's last chance to finally beat Javier like he has been trying and failing to do for the past three years. However when what started as a tense rivalry filled with jealousy and resentment begins to shift into something neither of them could have ever predicted Eli's calculated life takes a huge turn.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(30 25 21 1)>Falling for the school's golden boy that he had sworn to hate was not part of Eli's plan. Then again neither was relying on the alcohol to quiet the thoughts he couldn't outrun.</span></p><p></p><p><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Effortless is a slow-burn M/M academic rivals-to-lovers romance with strong hurt/comfort themes. A full list of trigger warnings are provided inside.</em></p>