One Of Us Is Lying (Ch.22-24)
Summary
Chapter 22
Cooper
The moment he thought matters were fading away, he was told to go to the police's office for further questioning. Out of the four main characters, Cooper is the only person who has rumors that are not truly written about him. He is oddly relieved that nothing true is written of him so his baseball career does not get ruined. When he got to the office, the detective had shown him a newly found article from Simon's file. The one that he had seen weeks ago about him having steroids was apparently an old version of the post. The newest version exposed his biggest secret he had been afraid to tell anyone for almost all his life. The fact that he was in love with a guy had been written about. He is in shock and is asked to answer if this is true.
"We have an interesting situation here. Four students with four entries they want to keep quiet. one gets deleted and replaced with a fake. Do you know what that looks like?" Cooper felt attacked by the detective.
Cooper's dad was an old man who would never approve of his son being gay so he was always nervous for him to break the news to him. At this point, he is not able to speak. Cooper knows they want him to confess to Simon's murder, even though that makes no logical sense. As much as he does not want the world to know, he realizes sooner or later he will have to tell his father the truth. The detective keeps threatening Cooper to tell them Kris's(his boyfriend) phone number and he already predicted that his life is going to get very miserable until he caves from the pressure. He gets home and using all his energy tells his family he is gay. His father laughs as if it is a joke and does not think Cooper is saying the truth.
Chapter 23
Addy(the next day)
Addy gets to school and there is another row of police cars after weeks of peace. Cooper looks absolutely terrible and calls Addy aside to talk where he confesses he is gay. She is not too surprised since this explains a lot of his behavior that did not quite make sense to her for the longest time. She updates her on, Nate's mom being alive, Bronwyn's sister being called to the police office which makes Cooper distract him from his problems. They decide to get together, the four of them and talk sometime soon.
By the next day, the rumors were out and the whole school was teasing Cooper about being gay. Bronwyn and Nate kiss in front of the whole school to get the attention off of Cooper and the four of them decide to sit together. "The whole murder club at one table. They can stare at all of us together" says Addy.
Chapter 24
Nate
Nate and Bronwyn go into an empty, under-construction house after midnight for a meeting of the Bayview Four(Nate, Bronwyn, Addy, and Cooper). The investigation keeps growing bigger and the families who did not even care about this murder are now so intrigued since big television shows are after this case as well. The four of them catch up and Cooper is probably at his worst. His father won't talk to him, he's getting torn apart online and none of the teams that were scouting him will return calls. As they exchange notes, what they find out is
-Simon was about to post shocking things about all four of them
-Somebody got the four of them in detention together with fake cell phones
-Simon was poisoned at some point during detention
-Many people other than the four of them have reasons to be mad at Simon
-Simon has also been part of scary 4chan stuff
etc...
They give names of people who could've hated Simon and giving reasons why they could've killed Simon. Then they start talking about Janae. Janae hangs out with them all the time and eats lunch with them even though they are accused of killing her best friend. They then also realize she had been awfully skittish lately and, she and Simon weren't together as much as usual right before he died. They end up not getting anywhere with the conversation.
Bronwyn
Bronwyn and her family is watching Mikhail Powers Investigates (a show that has been chasing the murder investigation for weeks making it nation-famous) and Mikhail is very upset. Mikhail had come out gay a few weeks ago and is now concerned about privacy rights being ignored by the police who had told the whole world Cooper was gay. It is true the police have no evidence, yet disrupted children's lives and violate Cooper's constitutional rights. The television show states that the case has been poorly handled, and says to their viewers that the teacher should be suspected since he was the room who's being treated as a witness instead of a suspect.
Then, the information Maeve(Bronwyn's sister) had sent to the television show had been broadcasted which was a surprise. By the end of the broadcast, the Bayview Police are villains, followed up closely by Simon. Bayview four(the four "victims") are shown as innocent bystanders and the whole thing is a reversal. The impact of television is huge because, at school, her life gets a little closer to "normal" and less criminal.
As she gets ready for her weekend-routine, Maeve comes into her room trembling and bringing Bronwyn down to the living room. On the television is Nate in handcuffs, with the word Arrest in the Simon Kelleher Murder Case.
Thoughts
These chapters made me a little sad because I imagined a student in our school is a gender neither boy or girl and getting teased like Cooper. I would not be surprised if there was a person insecure about their gender at school and simply thinking about how they would be mistreated made me sentimental. With all of this bullying happening to Cooper, the way the three "murder suspects"stood up for him was extremely heartwarming. I think in situations like this is when you know who your real friends are, and it made me want to stand up for those who are important in my life if they are in circumstances where they need help.
I am so surprised that four students who were almost strangers are now cooperating with each other and helping each other out. I can't imagine how hard of a time it is for all four of them but it makes me happy that they at least have each other. Come to think about it, they were coincidentally in the same room witnessing a friends' death and suspected as murderers, and now they are helping each other while basically everyone else is their enemy.
Throughout the course of the book, Addy transforms into an entirely new person. She shaves her beautiful commercial-worthy hair, is more humorous, free, and a lot like herself. This happens due to a breakup with her boyfriend and everyone likes her better after breaking up. From this, I figured that so many people fear not being able to fit in, but in the end, living how your heart desires are being yourself is what may bring you joy and in fact, inclusivity. The ending of chapter 24 was inconceivable and I was flabbergasted. I am the most puzzled and shocked out of the whole novel.
Chapter 22
Cooper
The moment he thought matters were fading away, he was told to go to the police's office for further questioning. Out of the four main characters, Cooper is the only person who has rumors that are not truly written about him. He is oddly relieved that nothing true is written of him so his baseball career does not get ruined. When he got to the office, the detective had shown him a newly found article from Simon's file. The one that he had seen weeks ago about him having steroids was apparently an old version of the post. The newest version exposed his biggest secret he had been afraid to tell anyone for almost all his life. The fact that he was in love with a guy had been written about. He is in shock and is asked to answer if this is true.
"We have an interesting situation here. Four students with four entries they want to keep quiet. one gets deleted and replaced with a fake. Do you know what that looks like?" Cooper felt attacked by the detective.
Cooper's dad was an old man who would never approve of his son being gay so he was always nervous for him to break the news to him. At this point, he is not able to speak. Cooper knows they want him to confess to Simon's murder, even though that makes no logical sense. As much as he does not want the world to know, he realizes sooner or later he will have to tell his father the truth. The detective keeps threatening Cooper to tell them Kris's(his boyfriend) phone number and he already predicted that his life is going to get very miserable until he caves from the pressure. He gets home and using all his energy tells his family he is gay. His father laughs as if it is a joke and does not think Cooper is saying the truth.
Chapter 23
Addy(the next day)
Addy gets to school and there is another row of police cars after weeks of peace. Cooper looks absolutely terrible and calls Addy aside to talk where he confesses he is gay. She is not too surprised since this explains a lot of his behavior that did not quite make sense to her for the longest time. She updates her on, Nate's mom being alive, Bronwyn's sister being called to the police office which makes Cooper distract him from his problems. They decide to get together, the four of them and talk sometime soon.
By the next day, the rumors were out and the whole school was teasing Cooper about being gay. Bronwyn and Nate kiss in front of the whole school to get the attention off of Cooper and the four of them decide to sit together. "The whole murder club at one table. They can stare at all of us together" says Addy.
Chapter 24
Nate
Nate and Bronwyn go into an empty, under-construction house after midnight for a meeting of the Bayview Four(Nate, Bronwyn, Addy, and Cooper). The investigation keeps growing bigger and the families who did not even care about this murder are now so intrigued since big television shows are after this case as well. The four of them catch up and Cooper is probably at his worst. His father won't talk to him, he's getting torn apart online and none of the teams that were scouting him will return calls. As they exchange notes, what they find out is
-Simon was about to post shocking things about all four of them
-Somebody got the four of them in detention together with fake cell phones
-Simon was poisoned at some point during detention
-Many people other than the four of them have reasons to be mad at Simon
-Simon has also been part of scary 4chan stuff
etc...
They give names of people who could've hated Simon and giving reasons why they could've killed Simon. Then they start talking about Janae. Janae hangs out with them all the time and eats lunch with them even though they are accused of killing her best friend. They then also realize she had been awfully skittish lately and, she and Simon weren't together as much as usual right before he died. They end up not getting anywhere with the conversation.
Bronwyn
Bronwyn and her family is watching Mikhail Powers Investigates (a show that has been chasing the murder investigation for weeks making it nation-famous) and Mikhail is very upset. Mikhail had come out gay a few weeks ago and is now concerned about privacy rights being ignored by the police who had told the whole world Cooper was gay. It is true the police have no evidence, yet disrupted children's lives and violate Cooper's constitutional rights. The television show states that the case has been poorly handled, and says to their viewers that the teacher should be suspected since he was the room who's being treated as a witness instead of a suspect.
Then, the information Maeve(Bronwyn's sister) had sent to the television show had been broadcasted which was a surprise. By the end of the broadcast, the Bayview Police are villains, followed up closely by Simon. Bayview four(the four "victims") are shown as innocent bystanders and the whole thing is a reversal. The impact of television is huge because, at school, her life gets a little closer to "normal" and less criminal.
As she gets ready for her weekend-routine, Maeve comes into her room trembling and bringing Bronwyn down to the living room. On the television is Nate in handcuffs, with the word Arrest in the Simon Kelleher Murder Case.
Thoughts
These chapters made me a little sad because I imagined a student in our school is a gender neither boy or girl and getting teased like Cooper. I would not be surprised if there was a person insecure about their gender at school and simply thinking about how they would be mistreated made me sentimental. With all of this bullying happening to Cooper, the way the three "murder suspects"stood up for him was extremely heartwarming. I think in situations like this is when you know who your real friends are, and it made me want to stand up for those who are important in my life if they are in circumstances where they need help.
I am so surprised that four students who were almost strangers are now cooperating with each other and helping each other out. I can't imagine how hard of a time it is for all four of them but it makes me happy that they at least have each other. Come to think about it, they were coincidentally in the same room witnessing a friends' death and suspected as murderers, and now they are helping each other while basically everyone else is their enemy.
Throughout the course of the book, Addy transforms into an entirely new person. She shaves her beautiful commercial-worthy hair, is more humorous, free, and a lot like herself. This happens due to a breakup with her boyfriend and everyone likes her better after breaking up. From this, I figured that so many people fear not being able to fit in, but in the end, living how your heart desires are being yourself is what may bring you joy and in fact, inclusivity. The ending of chapter 24 was inconceivable and I was flabbergasted. I am the most puzzled and shocked out of the whole novel.
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