One of Us is Lying

Addy and Nate narrate Chapter 2, which takes place later on Monday afternoon.

While the rest of the kids talk to the teachers, Addy thinks only of Jake, her boyfriend since freshman year. She calls him and immediately begins crying. Cooper takes the phone and explains to Jake what happened. He puts his arm around her to comfort her, which Addy knows would upset Jake if it were anyone other than Cooper, who is his best friend. Outside of school, Jake is waiting to take Addy home. Her mother has already heard and is waiting outside. Addy can “read her mood,” despite her Botox-frozen expression (19). Addy notes that her mother’s boyfriend is fifteen years younger than Addy’s dad, twelve years younger than her mother, and five years younger than her mother’s second husband, adding, “At the rate she’s going, she’ll date Jake next” (19). Her mother treats Jake as her equal and tells Addy that he is “too good for” her (19). Her mother used to enter her in beauty pageants, where she would typically finish as runner-up. According to her mother, this is “not good enough to attract and keep the kind of man who can take care of you for life” (19-20). Addy apologizes to Jake for not handling the situation well and calls herself useless. Jake tells her not to talk like that, and Addy reflects that she does not know what she would do if his attitude towards her were to change.

Nate finds himself in the parking lot with Bronwyn, who does not have a ride home. He offers her one on his motorcycle, and she initially declines. He takes out a flask and offers her a swig. She again says no but then changes her mind and guzzles from it. Nate finds Bronwyn attractive but does not tell her. They have known each other since kindergarten and attended the same Catholic school as kids, before Nate’s life “went completely to hell” (21). As they discuss the afternoon’s events, Nate reflects that he had forgotten how intense Bronwyn could be, though acknowledges that at least she is not boring. She brings up his mother’s death, and Nate changes the subject. He reiterates his offer of a ride home, and this time, she accepts. Nate notices she lives in “[t]he rich part of town” (24). As she gets off the bike, her phone rings. The caller tells her Simon has died.

Bronwyn narrates the first part of Chapter 3, which takes place the following day. Cooper narrates the second part.

Bronwyn’s homeroom teacher, Mrs. Park, announces Simon’s death and informs students that grief counseling will be available for students. Bronwyn looks at Simon’s app, half-expecting to read new gossip, but it has not been updated. Bronwyn notes that his news is always accurate and carefully-curated. She has never been featured because she is “too squeaky-clean” (28). The one thing he “might have written about” her “would have been almost impossible to find out,” and now “he never will” (28). At the end of homeroom, Mrs. Park tells Bronwyn that she has been assigned mandatory counseling sessions, along with all the students who were present at Simon’s death. Bronwyn’s friends, Kate and Yumiko, escort her to class, and a fellow mathlete, Evan Neiman, offers to listen, if she needs to talk. She sees Nate in the hall and is attracted to him, but her friends dismiss him as a drug dealer and “walking STD” (31).

Bronwyn’s guidance counselor, Mr. O’Farrell, asks Bronwyn if she would be willing to tutor juniors who are struggling with chemistry as she had her junior year, but she claims to be too “overcommitted” (32). Bronwyn remembers how she worried that she would not achieve the necessary grades to apply to Yale, the institution both of her parents and grandfather attended. She notes that “nobody wants me sharing my strategies with the other students” (33).

Cooper is called to the principal’s office, along with Nate, Bronwyn, and Addy. Officer Hank Budapest, of the Bayview Police Department, asks the students various questions about the moments leading up to Simon’s death. Autopsy results show his cause of death was peanut oil, residue of which was found inside the cup he drank from. Nate points out that a cell phone was put in his backpack as well, and Officer Budapest asks if Simon could be behind the prank. He asks the students whether any of them worried about ending up on Simon’s app. They say no, unconvincingly enough that Nate notes, “Everybody’s got secrets […] right?” (37).

After school, Cooper has a long workout routine. His father reminds him of an upcoming showcase game and the importance of maintaining his routine, despite Simon’s death. Cooper discusses his background: his father moved the family from Mississippi to southern California so that Cooper could play baseball year-round. Cooper’s grandmother, Nonny, came with the family because they needed her money to fund their California lifestyle. Cooper is considered a draft prospect for the minor, and his father “expects [Cooper will] make this gigantic mortgage and the job he hates worthwhile” (38). His girlfriend, Keely, a “genuinely sweet girl” who is also beautiful,” stops by just as Cooper receives a romantic text from an unknown sender (40).

Addy and Nate narrate later the same day.

At home, after school, Addy brushes her hair, the part of her aesthetic she’s most the confident about, and reflects on her friends. She compares Keely to “the lead character in the movie,” and herself as “the generic best friend” (42). For Addy, Simon had “been a constant presence” with Addy’s friend group but was “never one of [them]” (42). Keely had allowed Simon to kiss her before she began dating Cooper, but other than that, Simon’s only friend was “a sorta-Goth girl” named Janae (42). Addy believes Bronwyn would have been a better match for Simon and notes that Bronwyn doesn’t seem sad about his death. Jake arrives with news that he will be a pallbearer at Simon’s funeral, prompting Addy to remember that Jake and Simon had been close friends throughout elementary and middle school but drifted apart in high school, when Jake “made the varsity football team and started hanging out with Cooper” (43).

Addy wonders if Simon had started his app to impress Jake. Simon achieved early fame by exposing a sexting scandal perpetrated by Jake’s football rival, but when he devolved into sharing pettier, more personal information, students became scared of him (44). Jake would defend Simon, telling his friends they would not have a problem if they did not do sneaky things. As Jake makes social plans for himself and Addy, she reflects that he is the one in charge of their relationship. He initiates sex, asking if it’s okay, “like it’s a real question” (45). Addy never turns Jake down. Her mother has told her that if she says no too often, “someone else will say yes” (46). Addy claims not to mind, since she would “crawl inside him if [she] could” (46).

That evening, Nate arrives home to the dilapidated ranch where he lives with his father to find him passed out on the sofa, “an empty bottle of Seagrams in front of him” (46). Injured on the job years earlier, “while he was still a functioning alcoholic,” his father collects Social Security and spends his days drinking. Nate’s mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder, abandoned the family when Nate was 14. Nate began selling painkillers to pay the bills.

Recalling the scene in detention, Nate reflects that Bronwyn was “the only one who did anything except babble like an idiot” when Simon collapsed (49). He remembers a Nativity play they did together in fourth grade. Knowing how seriously she took everything, Nate stole the baby Jesus to upset her, but Bronwyn fashioned a replacement bundle and carried on, earning the approval of Nate’s mother. Nate receives a message from a Bayview classmate with a link to a Tumblr page entitled “About This” (50). The post claims to be written by the student who murdered Simon. The killer says everyone hated Simon, but “I was just the only one with enough guts to do something about it” (51).