Unfriended

Vail, Rachel. Unfriended. 2014. 282p. ISBN 978-0-670-01307-4. Available at FIC VAI on the library shelves.

Truly and Natasha were best friends in elementary school, but in 7th grade they parted way after Natasha began hanging out with the popular kids. Truly befriended Hazel, and the two of them have been inseparable since. But when, in the middle of eighth grade, Natasha asks Truly to come sit with her and the other popular kids, Truly immediately accepts and walks away from Hazel without a word, leaving her at their lockers.

This betrayal leads Hazel to begin an online campaign to destroy Truly. Meanwhile, Natasha has ulterior motives for inviting Truly over to her table. She wants Truly to work with them on the History Day project, and she knows that Truly will end up doing all of the work. Then her friends will see that Natasha is really nice and takes pity on her old friend Truly.

When her plan backfires, however, Natasha finds herself on the outs with the popular kids, while Truly is fully accepted. Natasha starts her own efforts at destroying Truly. As posts and pictures proliferate and become nastier, the spiral of ill will increasingly descend towards nastiness and will not stop until someone gets hurt.

Told from the perspectives of Truly, Natasha, Brooke, the popular girl at school; Clay, Brooke’s best friend, and Jack, who is secretly enamored with Truly, this is a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when your friends turn on you, and how even innocent conversations become fodder for rumors and remarks.