The Thing About Jellyfish

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

A girl has been struggling after the death of her best friend. She wishes she she would have better communicated her last words to her. Because of the this, the girl has decided to be almost totally silent. The story then proceeds in too part. It gradually moves forward in in the current time as well as moving forward from the time the girls first met. They became friends when they were young and were inseparable. They vowed to prevent each other from being "crazy" like boy crazy girls. However, in middle school, the friend goes boy crazy and the protagonist doesn't. Finally, on the last day of school, the protagonist puts frozen urine in the friend's locker, creating a big mess. They never speak again.

On the current timeline, the girl learns about dangerous jellyfish. She wants to talk to an expert in Australia, but freezes up on the phone. She does a report on jellyfish for school, thinking the friend may have died due to a jellyfish sting. The class doesn't get it. She later decides to go to Australia to talk to the scientist there. She buys a ticket and books things, but discovers she doesn't have a visa and can't travel to Australia alone. In this process, she talks to the friend's mom and learns the friend still respected her for being able to be herself. She also is "stuck" with the annoying boy as a lab partner in school. She learns he is managing his ADHD and they become friends. Finally she opens up and talks and goes to the school dance. She even learns that others she thought had it all together have struggles and insecurities too. She is a smart kid, but doesn't know everything, but struggles with the social issues at school.