Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Need Chapter Sampler
Need Chapter Sampler
sale
11.3.15!
Chapter Sampler
CONGRATULATIONS.
YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED
TO N.E.E.D.THE NEWEST,
INVITATION-ONLY SOCIAL MEDIA
SITE FOR NOTTAWA HIGH SCHOOL
STUDENTS. JOIN YOUR FRIENDS IN
DISCOVERING HOW MUCH BETTER LIFE
CAN BE WHEN YOU ARE PRESENTED
WITH AN ANONYMOUS WAY TO EXPRESS
YOUR THOUGHTS AND ARE GIVEN THE
TOOLS TO GET THE THINGS YOU
N.E.E.D.
Coming 11.3.15
hmhbooks.com/need
NEED
Kaylee
NE E D
J o e ll e C h a r bo n ne a u
I go back to the top and scroll through again. I see Nates request for his physics final grade followed by a bunch of snarky
comments, but my request isnt there. Whoever is in charge of
N.E.E.D. must have decided to remove my post because it was
too outlandish or because it gave away my identity.
Relief fills me until I click on my profile page. Under my
assigned user ID are the words:
Need Requests Submitted:
Kidney for brother
Waiting for fulfillment
NE E D
that changes? Almost every social media site Ive been a part of
has rolled out updates. The number of users on this network
is growing fast. What happens if N.E.E.D. stops being anonymous and my profile becomes viewable to all members? The
comments about my being pushed over the edge by a deadbeat
father and an almost-dead brother wont just be whispered in
hallways. Theyll be printed in bold type on my screen and on
the screens of everyone in my high school. Some will defend
me. Not everyone thinks Im an attention whore using my family problems to get sympathy. But those who do will be relentless when they stumble across my N.E.E.D. profile. Theyve
done it on other social media sites. Theyll do it here. I should
never have gone on this site.
If I have to sit around waiting for the site to revoke my anonymity, I might totally lose it. I have to delete my account. And
I have to do it now.
Theres no Delete feature on my profile page, so I click on
the home page and look for a My Account tab or a way to navigate to Settings. Or maybe a privacy button? Something. Anything. There has to be a way to get rid of this account. Only, no
matter how many places I click on, I cant find a way to wipe
my profile from the system. I must be missing something.
Desperate, I pick up the phone and call Nate.
Hey, Nate says. I was just going to call you. Hows DJ
doing today?
Better. Frustrated that Mom keeps calling to see if his fever
is back. The usual.
Nate laughs. Well, usual is better than unusual. Whenever
J o e ll e C h a r bo n ne a u
things get unusual in your place all hell breaks loose. So, this is
good.
I hadnt thought of it that way.
Thats why you keep me around. To do your thinking for
you. Speaking of that, I had an idea about how we can get more
people around here to get tested as a possible donor.
Nate might actually be able to swing getting more people
tested. While his family ignores him because he lacks athletic
prowess, at school hes considered very cool. But I doubt even
he has the ability to convince our classmates or their parents to
undergo elective surgery to help someone else.
Anyone who likes DJ or our family enough to donate one
of their kidneys already went through the process. It was a
pitifully small number. A few family friends. A couple of my
dads co-workers. And Nate. Turns out his blood type is right,
but none of the six antigens in the tissue typing is correct. His
kidney has a high risk of being rejected by DJs body, which
means Nate isnt a match. Just like me. So I faked my own illness to spend time in the nurses office and check blood types
of fellow students in the hopes I could target the ones who were
most likely to be a match. I thought it was a good idea. I was
wrong.
Yeah, but what about all the people who dont know you?
You appealed to this town, which is not only small, but filled
with a lot of small-minded, self-important jerks. I know you
have issues with social media because people are idiots, but not
everyone on the Internet is as simple-minded as the people we
go to school with. A good social media campaign could build
awareness and maybe encourage other people outside of this
NE E D
J o e ll e C h a r bo n ne a u
The almighty Jacks already gotten his second request fulfilled. He told Mom that he ordered a slide board with the gift
card he got from our grandmother, but I checked out the box
it was delivered in after he pitched it. No label or postage. Just
his name written in black block letters. I doubt Mom believes
him, but of course shed never question her team captain son.
Whats a slide board? I ask.
Some sort of agility workout thing. He and his football
friends are trying it out in the family room now. If you need
a laugh, you should come over and watch. Theyre all tripping
over themselves and pretending they meant to do it.
I type slide board into Google and hit Enter. Wow. Depending on the brand, those boards range from $250 to $500.
New phones could cost just as much. N.E.E.D. has shelled out
a lot of money just on Jacks requests. And his were only two of
the forty-eight requests that have already been fulfilled.
Wheres the money coming from? I interrupt whatever
Jack-bashing story Nate is telling this time.
What money?
The money being used to buy the slide board and all the
other things people are asking for.
Why does it matter?
Because nobody gives away tons of expensive gadgets without getting something in return. Things like this dont happen
in Disney movies, let alone real life.
Fair point. I can picture Nate running a hand through
his hair while he thinks things through. After a few seconds
he says, People do strange things for all kinds of reasons, you
know. Maybe its someone who played Santa Claus at the mall
this year and decided it was so much fun he didnt want to stop.
NE E D
J o e ll e C h a r bo nne a u
NE E D
Q. W
hile Kaylee is NEEDs main character, the book jumps
around to different teens stories and points of view. Was this
something you set out to do or did it just sort of happen?
A. Th
e initial story started with Kaylee. I wanted a character who had
been hurt both on and off of social media and had a strong desire
to keep her distance from people in person and online. That gave
her a strong conflict from the start. But everyone has different
reasons for being on social media and unique things that motivate
them to take risks. So, before I wrote the first page, I realized I
needed to explore more than just Kaylees point of view. I needed
a much broader cast of characters. However, it wasnt until I was
writing the story that I learned who those characters would be.
Q. Was any one character more fun to write than the others?
A. F
un . . . hmm . . . some of the characters were more compelling
to write or more surprising. Since I dont outline, I was never sure
where any of their stories would take them and often found myself
disturbed or encouraged by the journey. But fun is a totally different thing. I guess the really fun character to write was Nate. He
has a sense of humor I enjoyed exploring and makes Kaylee laugh
even when she isnt feeling particularly happy. I think we all need
someone like that in our lives.
Q. N
EED is available wherever books are sold November 2015.
How should fans keep busy until then?
A. W
ell, I would say readers should totally stay off of social media
wait, no, they should find me on social media and say hello. (We
can all be careful of the craziness there together.) You can find me
and all of my social media links on my website,
hmhco.com
NEED
In this suspenseful contemporary thriller, teenagers
in a small town are drawn deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need
. . . regardless of the consequences. The body count
starts to rise as the tasks asked in return for needs
fulfilled escalate from simple pranks to malicious
crimes.
hmhco.com
hmhbooks.com/need