When a friendship pact goes magically awry, eleven-year-old Hattie must figure out how to make amends. After Hattie and her three best friends watch one of their classmates publicly defriended in the school cafeteria, they make a loyalty pact promising never to mistreat each other. But after Hattie unwittingly breaks the pact, her friends begin ignoring her. In fact, they literally don't even know who she is anymore! Can Hattie figure out how to break the spell and make things right again?Acclaimed author Adrienne Vrettos brings poignancy and gentle humor to this magical story of friendship and loyalty. Adrienne Vrettos is the critically acclaimed author of the young adult novels Skin, Sight, The Exile of Gigi Lane, and, most recently, Burnout. Best Friends for Never is her first foray into middle-grade fiction. Adrienne lives with her family in Brooklyn. From Best Friends for Never"Piper?" I ask tentatively when she answers the phone. "It's Hattie." "Hattie?" she asks, the same blank voice as this morning. "Yes. Hattie," I say firmly. "Your best friend." "I'm sorry, I ..." "You know me, Piper. Remember, we met at the town pond in August? You bought me a purple popsicle and your little sister took a giant bite of it when I sat down on your beach towel." Piper laughs. "That's totally something Peanut would do, but I don't really remember ..." "I'm tall, Piper, and I have short curly hair and I wear glasses and I'm afraid of bugs with more than six legs and I help you with math and you help me Spanish and ..." "Wait!" I stop talking, hold my breath. "Are you the new girl from lunch today at school?" "You remember me?" "Yeah, you sat down next to me and started bawling. Are you okay?" I frantically scan my room, looking for something my eyes can rest on that will calm me, and I catch sight of the strip of photo booth pictures we took at the Festival. "Piper?" I ask, my voice shaking. "Yeah?" "What did you do on Saturday?" I walk slowly toward my mirror. Rain bats against the window. "I went to the Festival, why?" I slip the strip of photos out from the mirror frame and stare at them. "Who did you go with?" "Who did I go with to the Festival? My friends Celeste and Fee. Why?" "No reason," I say softly, already hanging up the phone up. I stare hard at the pictures. In them, I am alone

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