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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

Copyright 2015 by Joelle Charbonneau

All rights reserved. For information about permission to
reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions,
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company,
215 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003.
www.hmhco.com
The text was set in XX.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Charbonneau, Joelle.
Need / Joelle Charbonneau.
p. cm.
Summary: In this exploration of the dark side of social media, and government control and manipulation, the teenagers
in a small town are drawn deeper and deeper into a social
networking site that promises to grant their every need
regardless of the consequences.Provided by publisher
ISBN 978-0-544-41669-7
[1. Social mediaFiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Need.
PZ7.C37354Naam 2015
[Fic] dc23
2014034512
PZ7.C41943Yk 2015
[Fic] dc23
2014013599
Manufactured in the United States of America
TK 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
45XXXXXXXX

Kaylee

Since my attempts to find my father are going nowhere fast,

I take a break and log on to my normal email account. Wow.
Twenty-three unread messages.
Vicki Bocknick has invited you to N.E.E.D.
Quincy Hanson has invited you to N.E.E.D.
Martyn Udden has invited you to N.E.E.D.
Jose Alvarado has invited you to N.E.E.D.
Vera Petzel has invited you to N.E.E.D.

One after another. All invitations to N.E.E.D. All since I

went to bed fourteen hours ago. And most of the people who
sent these emails arent what Id call friends. Why would they
bother to invite me?
I click on the N.E.E.D. bookmark I created, log on, and
read the main screen twice when it appears. Either I wasnt

NE E D

paying attention yesterday or this page is new. Line after line of

need requests.
Computers
Phones
Clothes
Cars
Jewelry
Skis
An extra week of winter break
There must be over a hundred requests. Under each one is
a comment box where network users can click either Need
or Want and add an anonymous comment. Some requests
have a star, and judging by the congratulatory remarks beneath
them, I figure it signifies the ones that have already been fulfilled.
Some requests have dozens of comments. Others, which
must be the newest, have only a few. The messages range from
I need that too and I should have said that to Are you kidding? You need a life. Most of the needs are generic enough or
expressed so often that it would be nearly impossible for anyone to figure out who posted them. But mine wont be. And I
can only imagine the comments Ive gotten, especially since the
people behind them get to be anonymous.
I tell myself that I dont care. That after all the insults and
snide comments and dismissiveness from my peers, I am immune to anything they do or say. But clearly Im not, because
my insides curl as I scroll down through the requests and comments, looking for mine. Only, I dont find it.

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

Nothing else. No comment box. No mean quips or snarky

remarks. But wait. At the bottom of the page is an asterisk followed by a message that wasnt there before.
*This profile page is currently hidden from
other network members

No one will see what Ive asked for.

Why? I click off my profile page and onto another members
request for a new pair of skis. Immediately, the screen changes
and I can see the members anonymous profile, personalized
with a big, yellow smiley face background. The request status is
Waiting for fulfillment, and there is no asterisked message at
the bottom.
The network must have locked my page to protect my identity. After all, who else at our high school would ask for a kidney? Im safe from additional ridicule ... for now. But what if

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

community to get tested. You just need something to make

the campaign go viral. Ive been working on something I think
could get people fired up. It just takes one to be a match.
And that one has to be willing to go through the rest of
his life with only one kidney. Most people arent that selfless
without getting paid for it. My mother will also hate the public
aspect of this idea, but I dont really care. Maybe if she hates
it enough shell actually do something to help find my father.
Let me talk to DJ and see what he thinks. Before Nate can
push, I say, Speaking of social media, I cant find a way to delete my N.E.E.D. account.
Why would you want to do that? Ive been playing around
with the site most of the day. Its really wild.
Wild how?
Well, to start with, the person who put this thing together
is an evil genius. From what I can tell, the site went live three
days ago. When I sent myself the invitation yesterday, there
were only 26 users. Its up to 407 now. Make that 410. Ive gotten almost sixty email invitations to join since this morning. I
finally had to put a status up on Facebook telling everyone I
was a member and that they should send requests elsewhere.
Im guessing by tomorrow everyone from school who checked
their email will be on N.E.E.D.
I click on the N.E.E.D. network statistics screen.
Network members 410
Needs pending 398
Needs fulfilled 48

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

Or maybe some rich dude learned he only has two months to

live and has decided to give his money away to a worthwhile
cause.
You call indulging Jacks every desire worthwhile?
No, but getting me a passing physics grade is. Although,
now that Im considering all the options, I realize how shortsighted my choice was.
Why? I ask. Because you dont think your physics teacher
can be bribed by a terminally ill rich guy?
Everyone has a price, Kaylee. You just have to be willing
to push until you figure out what it is. Whoevers behind this
website knows that. But its occurred to me that my request
cant be fulfilled for another two and a half weeks. If Id been
more materialistic like Jack and almost everyone else, Id already have my first order in hand and have moved on to my
second. Now, thanks to the rules of the site, I have to wait
until the first request is fulfilled before I can ask for anything
else.
By then you wont be able to ask for anything.
Why not?
Because there wont be anyone left to invite to the network. I click on the screen and see the member number has
risen to 424. Thats the catch. Right? You invite people onto
the site and get your need fulfilled? Once everyone has joined,
the whole thing will be over.
I dont think so, Nate says. The mocking humor is gone.
Think about it. Whoevers behind this wants all of us on
the site. They set the bar low so its easy for the user to leap
over and get their reward. Thats not going to last much longer. Now that the network is up and running, Im guessing

J o e ll e C h a r bo nne a u

theyll raise the price from a couple of emails to something

more.
Like what? I ask.
The silence stretches for what seems like forever until finally
Nate says, I dont know, but I doubt well have to wait very
long to find out.

NE E D

WANT: A desire to possess or do

something. A wish.

NEED: Something required because

it is essential. Something very
important that you cannot live
without.

What do you need?

Visit HMHbooks.com/NEED to find out more.

A Q &A w ith Jo e ll e C h a r b o nne au

Q. How would you describe your new book, NEED?

A. NEED is a stand-alone thriller that jumps headfirst into a new
social media site that allows users to say what they need and offers them a chance to get itfor a price. Because so much of the
user behavior and rules of the site are based on things Ive actually
witnessed on the internet, I can honestly say I think this story is
creepier and more intense than anything else Ive ever written.
Q. What can fans of the Testing trilogy expect to find in NEED?
A. Even though this is a contemporary thriller instead of science
fiction, I think Testing readers will be happy to find a fast-paced
plot, strong characters that you can root for and against, and a dark
mystery of the powers hidden behind the network and the reason
why it exists. Hopefully, readers will also find the same intensity
and connection to the story that they embraced in the Testing
trilogy.
Q. NEED is, in part, about the darker side of social networking.
What drew you to this subject?
A. The internet and specifically social networking is really fascinating. For some reason, a great number of people behave differently
online than they do in real life. I see friends of mine say things to
people on their social media pages that they would never say in person. That kind of behavior made me wonderwhat would people
say if they were anonymous online and thought no one knew it was
them . . . and what would they do if they thought they could get
things they needed? Once I asked myself those questions, I had no
choice but to answer them, which is why I wrote NEED.

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,

www.joellecharbonneau.com as well as explore theTesting trilogy

on the series site: www.thetestingtrilogy.com. All three books in the
Testing trilogy are available and The Testing is hitting shelves in paperback for the first time on January 6, 2015. Ill be touring during
January and February, so keep watching for information. Id love to
say hello in person.
 Also, there are tons of amazing books out there to read by
some supremely talented authors. I know my to-be-read pile is
huge, but Im always looking for new books to add to it. So if
you come across something amazing that you think I should read,
please let me know. If I havent already read it, I will add it to the
stack!
Q. Whats next for you?
A. G
 ood question! Heres hoping I have a good answer. Im working
on a new young adult thriller that currently has the working title of
Masked. It is about sixteen-year-old Sarah Kowalski. She lives with
her grandmother who is experiencing early onset dementia. They
are working to hide the condition in order to stay together, but
one day Sarah comes home to find a strange woman dead in her
house and her grandmother standing over the body. Her grandmother doesnt remember who the lady is or whether she killed
her. But even more disturbing is the worry Grandma has that the
dead woman might be connected to a long-kept secret that could
put Sarahs life at risk. Sarah must decide what is true, what is part
of the paranoia and fear that comes with dementia, and whether
it is the disease or something far more insidious that is tearing her
life apart. And she might end up fighting not just for her life, but
for her grandmothers as well. I have to finish writing the book to
find out. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Since I dont outline in
advance, Im not sure where the book is going, but Im dying to
find out.

photo Tom Frey

Joelle Charbonneau began telling stories as an opera singer, but these

days she finds her voice through writing. Joelle is the author many
books for mystery and young adult readers, including the New York
Times best-selling Testing trilogy. Joelle lives near Chicago, Illinois,
with her husband and son, and when she isnt writing, works as an acting and vocal coach. Visit her website at www.joellecharbonneau.com.

Read all three books in Joelle Charbonneaus

bestselling Testing trilogyavailable now!

Its not enough to pass the test.

You have to survive it.
Your Time Is Almost Up. Your Time Is Almost Up.

Visit TheTestingTrilogy.com to read the prequel,

watch the trailer, and more!

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.

A provocative exploration of what you really need

and what you would be willing to do to get it, the
dark side of social media, and government control and
manipulation.

On sale November 3, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-544-41669-7 352 pages
$17.99 Ages 12 and up

hmhco.com

hmhbooks.com/need