Summary
Part Three, Truth or Dare, Chapter 22
On Sunday the 21st, Cooper is called in to the police station. They interview him privately, telling him that Simon had drafted a different post—one that revealed he is gay. His lawyer tells the police they cannot disclose this information, but he realizes he must tell his father the truth. When he tells his family, his father thinks he’s joking, but his Nonny knows the truth.
Part Three, Truth or Dare, Chapter 23
Narration resumes on Monday from Addy’s perspective. Cooper tells her he’s gay. She is supportive. The two make plans to get together with Nate and Brownyn to share theories.
At lunch, someone calls out that Cooper is gay: news has leaked. Nate enters the cafeteria and tells the other teens to “get a life.” He singles out Vanessa for hitting on him—and every other guy in Bayview. Cooper joins the girls at their table, and his friend Luis sits with them, too.
Part Three, Truth or Dare, Chapter 24
Narration resumes three days later on Thursday, October 25, from Nate’s perspective. The four teens meet up in an abandoned house to discuss the case. Addy arrives with purple hair, and Nate notes that she’s much feistier without Jake in the picture.
They wonder what the connections with Simon are. Simon liked Keely, who hooked up with both Nate and Cooper. Addy used to be friends with her. But Bronwyn had no connection. However, she was friends with Leah, with whom she accidentally excluded Simon from Model UN.
They all realize how many details the anonymous Tumblr posts have gotten right. They wonder if Janae could be the writer, since she’s been spending time with them all. Addy reveals that she actually invited Janae. In addition, Cooper volunteers to track down the red Camaro that got hit in the school parking lot through Luis’ brother, a mechanic.
The next day, Bronwyn watches Mikhail Powers Investigates with her family. Now, it takes a much more sympathetic tone towards the teens. It reveals Simon’s violent 4chan posts, including his entreaty that school shooters “do something original” rather than using a gun.
Brownyn feels relieved when her classmates stop treating her as a suspect. However, that evening, she turns on the news to see Nate in handcuffs: he’s under arrest for Simon’s murder.
Analysis
As part three begins, the title “Truth or Dare” comes into greater relief: will these four teens be honest, or risk the consequences of continuing to hide their secrets? In particular, we see this unfold with Cooper, who experiences blatant homophobia from his classmates. The theme of stereotypes comes back to the forefront; as a star athlete, his gay identity clashes with people’s expectations. It takes an outcast, Nate, to tell the other students just how narrow-minded they are being.
The bias and issues in the criminal justice system also come to the forefront as we learn more about Cooper’s sexuality. The police view his closetedness as a possible motive for killing Simon. Moreover, they’re willing to leak that information in spite of federal law to get him to cooperate with the investigation. Once again, police are portrayed as corrupt and narrow-sighted.
These chapters develop not just Cooper, but also Addy. Apart from Jake, Addy has become a different person—someone who follows her passions, cuts and dyes her hair, and fiercely defends her friends. Her short hair, now purple, continues to serve as a symbol of her internal transformation.
These developments establish Jake as an antagonist in the novel, one whose controlling behavior kept Addy from being her true self for years. Moreover, he fails to defend Cooper in the face of his classmates’ shaming. Cooper turns to Luis; as Addy observes, Cooper has real friends, but his “best” friend, Jake, is not one of them.
Finally, as these characters embrace their true identities and decide to live in the light, the media shifts its narrative. In particular, Maeve’s intervention seems to have inspired students including Leah to speak out about Simon’s bullying, revealing that he was not a martyr. Nonetheless, his death remains a mystery, and the characters’ propensity to hide parts of themselves leaves open the possibility that one of them is still lying.
