Unfriended

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

The book demystifies the popular group at Truly’s school because it undercuts the notion that popular kids tend to be mean and exclusionary. Brooke is the most popular girl in the eighth grade and entire school, and Natasha refers to her as the “Queen of Nice.” Brooke isn’t a manipulative, snobbish “Queen Bee” but an accessible, warm leader. She’s fine with Truly sitting at the popular table, and she agrees to go to Hazel’s house even though she hardly knows Hazel. Brooke’s mother says, “You don’t have to be friends with everybody, you just can’t be unkind to anybody” (86). Brooke puts her mother’s words into practice, and most of the popular kids follow her lead. Lulu and Evangeline reproach Natasha when she’s mean to Truly, and Jack is “always on the lookout for somebody being left out” (231). Truly belongs with the popular crowd not because she’s particularly cool but due to her innate decency. As her name suggests, Truly is an earnest person, and in Vail’s unvarnished presentation of popularity, what counts is kindness.

Conversely, Vail perpetuates the mystique of the popular group by linking it to famous political individuals like Benedict Arnold and Harry Truman.