Group Chat at 3: 17 A.M.

By Aria Vale

When a late-night group chat pushes a private secret into the feed, junior Nova Reed doesn't want to join the whisper network-she wants a way out. Enter the Student Digital Ethics Board: part help desk, part newsroom, zero vigilantes. Their rules are simple: privacy isn't secrecy, screenshots aren't justice, and "Not today" is a sentence. With counselors and one stubborn school resource officer at their side, Nova and her friends build a process for harm reports: map exits, route to adults, update with receipts-not posts.

But anonymous accounts keep escalating, a surveillance app promises "safety," and friendships tangle with accountability. As the clock keeps circling back to 3:17 A.M., Nova has to decide what to publish, what to hold, and where apology ends and repair begins.

Fast, propulsive, and grounded in real resources, Group Chat at 3:17 A.M. asks a timely question with small, human stakes: in a world that mistakes monitoring for care...what does good actually look like?

Quiet Hours #1 - Contemporary YA - friendship under pressure - online harm & accountability - hopeful, systems-savvy

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0FNDQQX9M
• ISBN13: 9798298714235
• Release Date: August 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 1.09 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"