Willem, happening to board the same train, sees Allyson. Their plan is to stay with Melanie’s extended family for a few days and then return to the United States. The morning after the performance, Allyson and Melanie say farewell to the rest of their tour group and get on an early train out of the city. She first catches his eye towards the end of the play Willem falls for her because she doesn’t loiter near the door next to the backstage area like all the other girls. There, Allyson meets Willem, the actor who plays Sebastian. On the last night of the trip, they go to a performance of Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. When Mel gives herself a makeover, deciding to present as a cool and edgy girl, Allyson follows suit, cropping her hair short. Disillusioned about her classmates’ apparent transformation into partier stereotypes, Allyson and Melanie decide that they will take life after high school seriously and get a head start for college. Allyson can barely hide her disappointment lightening up a little, she coaxes her best friend, Melanie, to spend nights with her in the hotel. Each day, they visit a number of historical sites and then depart to party wherever they may be. The first leg of the trip is underwhelming: the other people on the trip, also soon-to-be college students, treat it like a prequel to independence from their parents and the college bar scene. Before beginning college, she looks forward to traveling Europe on a guided tour funded by her parents.

The novel begins just after Allyson has finished high school. The first book in a trilogy, it is followed by Just One Year, which takes place in parallel from Willem’s perspective, and a final volume, Just One Night. Allyson falls deeply in love with Willem and runs off with him to Paris, where he vanishes after less than a day. Just One Day (2013), a young adult romance novel by American author Gayle Forman, follows the protagonist Allyson Healey, a recent high school graduate traveling Europe who encounters Willem, a traveling actor from the Netherlands.

Just One Day by Gayle Forman