One of Us is Lying

Nate is released, and Eli explains Simon’s plot to him. Nate learns that Addy, “that airhead homecoming princess turned badass ninja investigator,” suffered a cracked skull for trying to help Nate (334). Janae’s broken jaw, Cooper’s heroics, Bronwyn’s determination to uncover the truth, and Kris connecting the dots “nobody else saw” saved him (335). Nate feels like the only one who did not contribute anything. Bronwyn is waiting for him when he is released from prison, but he believes that she will always be “that girl in front of me in the scavenger hunt, her shining hair hypnotizing me so much I almost forget how uselessly I’m trailing behind her” (335).

Cooper is on the cover of People magazine with Kris, who is “the new breakout star of this whole mess” because he figured out the truth (336). The more Kris shuns the spotlight, the more the media seek him. After the police outed Cooper, his Facebook fan page, monitored by Lucas, lost all its followers, but since his heroics, the “likes” shot past 100,000. Cooper struggles to reconcile Jake’s actions with who he believed Jake to be and to accept that Janae stood by, watching Jake act. At the same time, Cooper recognizes his own role.