Two girls walk side by side outside McDonalds, holding icy McFlurries in their hands as they laugh and snack on the chilly dessert. One is tall, with a black and silver wolf cut and multiple piercings and the other is shorter, with caramel honey-colored hair and slim silver frames. In the dim light of the world’s biggest fast food chain, they bond over the cool sweetness of ice cream. 

This is one of the most popular scenes from PV High senior and varsity volleyball player Katie Choi’s self-published novel, “Everything I’ve Lost I’ve Found in You.” 

With select scenes illustrated by senior Cynthia Ho, the sapphic novel tells the story of a popular volleyball player/influencer and a wealthy, introverted, misunderstood student. 

Choi began writing the book in the fall of 2021 and published it in August of 2022.

“It was supposed to be a standalone but I really liked the characters and then I kept writing it and eventually finished it,” Choi said.

The main couple, Wynn and Jiyu, start off their relationship as roommates, slowly blossoming into something more. The book covers topics like familial pressure, academic stress, fake friends, and includes a diverse cast of queer and POC characters. Choi drew inspiration from real life issues and topics, writing as a creative outlet.

“People are like ‘Oh I’m so bad at writing,’ but it’s definitely a skill you can build…whatever you make all the time doesn’t have to be a double prize winner, like I didn’t write this thinking ‘man this is gonna be a New York Times bestseller’, I just wrote it and it was fun,” Choi said.

Ho and Choi met last year in 5th period English class. After being introduced to the story, Ho began working on the book in December of 2021. Ho drew the cover with soft pink and purple tones, depicting an intimate, heartwarming scene of the main couple embracing on a bed. Ho says that the cover took her almost 4 months to complete as Choi worked on editing the book, the pair working through finals and AP season.

“I had to change my style quite a bit and I learned how to format my art in a way that was easily editable because it is a project with other people, so it has to be flexible,” Ho said. 

“It really just taught me how to complete a project as well because I’ve never done something this big so far.” 

Choi says that though the whole process of writing her book took about one and a half years, the hardest part was the final step: publishing the book. 

Despite this challenge, Choi continues to enjoy writing and says she will continue publishing in the future, whether that comes in the form of illustrating children’s books or working on novels.

“You can just create whatever you want to create or see and it’s your own little universe,” Choi said.