Unfriended

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes bullying, anti-fat bias, suicide, and stigmatizing language about mental health.

Truly and Hazel are in the eighth grade, and they’ve been best friends since sixth grade. At school, Hazel and Truly discuss Truly’s locker problems. Hazel is the only person in school with a key lock, but Truly has a spinny lock, like the popular girls. Hazel knows Truly’s locker combination, and she and Truly know the passwords to each other’s social media accounts. After Truly’s 13th birthday party, the girls wrote their passwords and hid them in their matching ballet dancer jewelry boxes.

Before Hazel, Natasha was Truly’s best friend. In sixth grade, Natasha “dumped” Truly because Truly was “too babyish.” In the present, Natasha taps Truly’s shoulder and invites her to sit at the popular table. Natasha claims she and Brooke, the most popular girl in school, want to discuss the History Day project with Truly. Truly accepts the invitation and leaves Hazel. Hazel locks Truly’s locker.

Hazel feels abandoned, and Truly left her without an apology. Hazel feels like she fell into a “trapdoor” and doesn’t exist anymore.