The Shadow Club

The story is narrated by 14-year-old Jared Mercer, who attends his best friend Cheryl Gannett’s mother’s wedding. Cheryl is resentful of her younger cousin, Rebecca, a talented singer who consistently upstages her. At the reception, Rebecca is asked to sing, confirming Cheryl’s feeling of being “second-best.” To vent their frustrations, Jared and Cheryl invent morbid, imaginary revenge plots against Rebecca, a game they both enjoy. Jared relates to Cheryl’s feelings, as he harbors a similar hatred for his own rival, a fellow runner named Austin Pace.

Jared is the second-fastest runner at his junior high school, always losing to his arrogant and popular teammate, Austin. On the first day of ninth grade, Austin flaunts his expensive running shoes and boasts about his potential to qualify for the Junior NCAA championships, humiliating Jared. Tyson McGaw, a volatile school outcast, observes their exchange and tells Jared he has no chance against Austin. At the first track meeting, Austin is elected team captain, and Jared is given the powerless title of "assistant coach." Austin immediately taunts Jared with the nickname "Gopher," which quickly spreads among their peers.

Following a small fire in the school cafeteria, Austin challenges Jared to a 60-yard dash in front of the entire student body. Austin wins easily and leads the other students in a humiliating "Go-PHER!" chant. This pushes Jared to agree to Cheryl’s idea of forming a club for "second-best" kids. They hold the first meeting of the "Shadow Club" at an abandoned stone foundation in the woods, which they name Stonehenge. The club consists of seven members, each with a rival: Cheryl’s is Rebecca; Jared’s is Austin; Cheryl’s brother Randall’s is swimmer Drew Landers; Jason Perez’s is trumpet player David Berger; Abbie Singer’s is popular girl Vera Donaldson; Karin "O.P." Han’s is top student Tommy Nickols; and Darren Collins’s is basketball star Eric Kilfoil. After signing a charter and burning pictures of their rivals, the members grow bored. Jared spontaneously suggests they play anonymous practical jokes on their enemies, an idea the group embraces with enthusiasm.

The club begins a series of pranks, with members targeting each other’s rivals to maintain anonymity, such as putting a snake in a thermos and filling a trumpet with green slime. Finally, a prank is pulled for Jared when someone places Tommy Nickols’s pet tarantula in Austin’s jacket hood, causing Austin to panic. During the chaos, the spider is accidentally crushed and killed by another student.

During a celebratory meeting at Stonehenge, the club discovers Tyson McGaw spying on them. They capture him, and when he asks to join their "gang," they refuse, threaten him, and Randall spits in his face. Worried Tyson will expose them, Jared spies on Tyson’s home, an old lighthouse, and discovers he is a bed wetter. Jared uses this secret to blackmail Tyson into silence. Meanwhile, Jared and Cheryl’s friendship deepens into a romance. Feeling guilty, Jared suggests the club stop the pranks, and they agree to a new policy of pulling them only occasionally. Soon after, a new wave of more vicious pranks begins. Eric’s locker is filled with black paint, the principal’s camera is planted in Tommy’s locker, and David’s trumpet is crushed by a bus. Following the club's rule of anonymity, individual members secretly begin pulling these more vicious pranks for one another; unaware of each other's actions, the group becomes convinced that Tyson is framing them.

Vice Principal Greene learns of the club from Tyson and confronts Jared, who denies any wrongdoing. The pranks escalate further, becoming dangerous. Drew’s prized fish tank is destroyed by a firecracker the day after he humiliates Randall. Vera’s bicycle brakes are cut after she argues with Abbie, causing a serious crash. Jared confronts Tyson about the dangerous pranks and, in a moment of rage, publicly humiliates him by screaming "Bed wetter!" in the school hallway. The club’s belief in Tyson’s guilt is solidified when a notoriously dishonest classmate claims to have seen Tyson plant the firecracker. The situation worsens for Jared when Austin has "GOPHER" printed on his new team uniform. Enraged, Jared attacks Austin and quits the team. The next morning, Jared finds sharp rocks planted in the field where Austin runs barefoot. He tries to warn Austin but is too late. Austin’s feet are severely cut, and his ankle is broken, ending his running season. Mr. Greene accuses Jared of the act and summons the entire Shadow Club to his office. Instead of complying, Jared gathers the members, and they sneak out of school to confront Tyson.

The club members, excluding Cheryl and Randall, break into Tyson’s house. They assault him, destroy his handmade marionettes, and drag him to a secluded beach. There, they try to force a confession by pushing him into the rough ocean, knowing he cannot swim. Jared is called away by Cheryl, who informs him that Randall is in the hospital. At the hospital, the truth unravels. Randall was injured while trying to steal Eric’s basketball hoop as a prank for Darren. Jared realizes that each club member has been independently committing the dangerous pranks for others, all while believing Tyson was responsible. Jared tricks Cheryl into confessing that she planted the rocks that injured Austin. Horrified, Jared runs back to Stonehenge, where the others confess that Tyson, under duress, admitted to setting the school fires. In a rage, they nearly drowned him before he escaped. The other members then confess their individual pranks to Jared.

As they process the revelations, the club sees that Tyson’s lighthouse home is on fire. Believing Tyson is inside, Jared runs into the burning building. He becomes trapped but escapes up the lighthouse’s spiral staircase, where he finds Tyson, who set the fire and intends to die in it. Jared learns that Tyson’s parents died in a fire. He calms Tyson, and as the tower is engulfed in flames, they jump from the top and fall down a rocky cliff into the stormy ocean. Jared, though not a strong swimmer, manages to save the non-swimming Tyson from drowning.

The next day, all seven members confess to Mr. Greene and their parents. They are suspended from school and ordered to pay for the damages. The club holds one last meeting, attended only by Jared, Cheryl, and Tyson. Cheryl officially dissolves the club, and Tyson burns the charter. The future of Jared and Cheryl’s relationship is left uncertain, but their friendship begins to heal. Jared and Tyson form a genuine friendship. In the epilogue, Jared reflects on his actions and his newfound understanding that being a good friend is more important than being the best at anything. He plans to apologize to Austin, hoping to make amends.