One of Us is Lying

Cooper meets Addy and Bronwyn at a downtown coffee shop chosen by Bronwyn. Kris, Ashton, and Maeve join them. Cooper feels awkward having Kris there and wonders whether he has gotten used to sneaking around or has not yet “come to terms with the fact that I’m dating a guy” (310). He hates the part of him that maintains physical distance from Kris to prevent others from realizing what they are to each other but acknowledges that he continues to do it.

The group goes over the evidence yet again, and Cooper adds that Simon deleted Cooper’s original entry. Bronwyn points out that someone deleted it, but it may not have been Simon. Ashton points out that Jake was a control freak, and Bronwyn writes that on a post-it. Just as she is about to share another theory, Eli walks into the coffee shop. Until Proven’s offices are upstairs, revealing why Bronwyn chose the meeting’s location. She wanted to run into Eli to make sure Sam contacted him.

Returning to the post-its, the group ponders how Jake and Simon are connected. Kris plucks two post-its from the pile: “Simon was poisoned during detention” and “Simon was depressed” (313). After a long silence, Bronwyn recites what Simon said during detention: “I’m the omniscient narrator” (313). She had told him there was no such thing in teen movies, and he had replied that there were in life then drained his cup of water.

Bronwyn reviews what they know: Simon wanted to be the center of attention, fantasized about making a “huge, violent splash at school,” and complained on 4chan about school shooters being unoriginal (314). Cooper tells them he believes Simon regretted his decision at the end and wanted help. He wonders whether the close call with death would have inspired a change in Simon if he had been saved. Kris squeezes his hand. Maeve asks how Jake fits in, and Kris notes that Simon would have needed an accomplice to carry on the ruse after his death. Bronwyn theorizes that Simon approached Jake by revealing Addy and TJ’s hookup. Addy jumps up from the table, saying Jake would not do that. Ashton cuts in that they have done enough for one night. Bronwyn apologizes to Addy, and the group breaks up. Before he and Cooper leave, Kris pulls out one more post it, “Janae seems depressed,” then suggests that Janae might know “something useful” (315-16).

Outside the coffee shop, Cooper kisses Kris. He apologizes for having been distant. Kris says he understands then laces his fingers with Cooper’s, holds up their linked hands, and asks, “Yes?” (316). Cooper says yes, and they walk down the sidewalk together.

From inside juvenile detention, Nate recites a list of rules for surviving “being locked up,” the last of which is not to think about what or who is outside, “[e]specially if she’s better off forgetting you exist” (316).

Addy does not want to believe that Jake framed her for murder but recalls that on the morning of Simon’s death, Jake uncharacteristically offered to carry her backpack, which gave him the perfect opportunity to plant a phone in it.

Janae has been absent from school and ignoring Addy’s texts, so Addy decides to visit her at home. Bronwyn coaches Addy on what to say to encourage Janae to confess what she knows. Cooper drives Addy and waits in the car. When Addy sees Janae, skinny and anxious looking, she ignores all of Bronwyn’s coaching and enfolds Janae in a hug. Janae begins to weep. Addy tells Janae everything she knows, and Janae shows her “Simon’s manifesto,” in which he confesses that he committed suicide and framed his four classmates (321). Janae is supposed to wait one year, until the four students’ lives are ruined, then turn the manifesto over to police.

Janae explains how Simon’s bitterness at not being more popular and respected escalated until he no longer “knew what was real” (322). He was angry at Bronwyn for cheating, thus making it impossible for Simon to catch up to her for valedictorian. He was angry at Nate for distracting Keely from Simon despite having no interest in her himself, and angry at Cooper for getting Simon uninvited to Vanessa’s party. Those three were Simon’s initial targets, but then Jake discovered that Simon had rigged the votes to put himself on the junior-prom court and threatened to reveal it. Terrified of being exposed as a “wannabe,” Simon used his knowledge of TJ and Addy’s hookup to convince Jake to help Simon pull off the scheme to frame his classmates for murder. Janae had refused to help Simon, and he needed a second person to continue the plan after he died. For Jake, it was an opportunity for revenge against Addy for cheating on him. Simon did not care if Jake got caught because he hated Jake for having ditched Simon as a friend when they got to high school.

Addy asks Janae why she has not revealed what she knows to police. Janae explains that Jake recorded her trying to talk Simon out of his plan then edited the footage to make her sound guilty. Jake demanded Janae plant the computer and EpiPens in Addy’s room, but Addy was so kind to Janae that she could not go through with it. As the girls discuss what to do next to ensure Nate is not convicted, Cooper texts Addy that Jake is outside. Addy decides to hide and try to capture Jake confessing on her phone video recorder.

Jake tells Janae she needs to get the police back on Addy’s trail, but Janae tells Jake they need to end the charade. He threatens to “put everything on [Janae’s] doorstep and walk away” (329). At that moment, a text from Cooper comes through on Addy’s phone—she has forgotten to silence her ringer. Jake hears her distinctive message indicator and finds her hiding in the dining room. She runs out the back door and into the woods. Jake catches up with her and begins choking her. Janae screams at him to stop, but he punches her in the face, breaking her jaw, then resumes choking Addy. As Addy is on the brink of blacking out, Cooper appears and punches Jake, sending him flying. Addy hears sirens in the distance.