What to Say Next

Kit and David’s friendship begins largely in part because they are both subjects of gossip at Mapleview high school. For David, this is a chronic status, as his neurodiversity leads him to behave in ways that his classmates consider “weird” and thus regularly speak about. For Kit, her status as the subject of gossip is more acute following the death of her father in a car accident. Her classmates, even those who care for her, struggle to know how to respond to Kit while she works through Processing Grief and Trauma.

The challenging social situations of high school are thus acutely difficult for Kit and David, as each struggles to engage in interpersonal relationships in ways broadly characterized as “normal” by the Mapleview students. For David, this is because his neurodivergence leads him to struggle with discerning social cues; Kit, meanwhile, finds herself with significantly diminished interest in behaving in socially accepted ways, as she no longer considers these things to be important in comparison to the magnitude of her grief. Though both friends find it uncomfortable to be at the center of circulating gossip—and each, for their own reasons, struggles to know, as the title invokes, what to say next—the desire to escape from this maelstrom of gossip ultimately brings them together, which helps them each be less lonely.