Empress of the World

Blurb

Empress of the World is a young adult novel by Sara Ryan. It was published in 2001. Its sequel, The Rules for Hearts, was published in April 2007. It won the 2002 Oregon Book Award for Young Readers Literature.
Ryan summarizes the book conceptually as "Friendship, love, and the sometimes blurry lines between the two."
Empress of the World tells the story of Nicola, a teenager girl who attends a summer program for gifted children, where she falls in love with a girl named Battle.