ds1 (11) has been pretty argumentative since he was 6, but since he started puberty (early at the age of 8ish, is being treated with a hormone injection that stops the physical symptoms but not the hormonal ones!) he has been much worse, he will argue black is white and always always has to be right, he also talks literally non-stop and asks constant questions but is never happy with the answer!
dh and i have always dealt with this by being as unconfrontational as possible, he is a very difficult child bless him, and we've found if we get cross it makes his behaviour worse, so we don't give in to him but do ignore alot of bad behaviour.
we're fairly happy with this method, and have hoped he would grow out of it once past puberty, but over the last year or so we've noticed he is becoming increasingly like this with friends, to the extent that he invites them round and they are making excuses not to come. he is going on a residential school trip next week (5 days), and had to put down the friends they wanted to share a room with, and he saw his 2 'best' friends lists, and they hadn't put his name down, he asked them why and they said they'd forgotten but this is clearly not the case!
i am concerned he will end up friendless, he is starting secondary school in september and don't really want him to be labelled as 'that annoying kid'! he is very sociable and doesn't really like being without a friend.
so what to do? leave him and hope he grows out of it? tell him (tactfully 
) he's being annoying?
any thoughts gratefully received!