Summary
Part One: Simon Says, Chapter 5
On Friday, Bronwyn settles in for an evening watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer with her younger sister, Maeve. Maeve assures Bronwyn she’ll soon have more exciting weekends at Yale, but Browyn expresses skepticism. She reveals that Maeve is part of what has driven her to excellence. Maeve was diagnosed with leukemia at seven, and was only diseases-free at fourteen. Bronwyn tried to excel enough for both of them.
As they sit down, Nate arrives on his motorcycle. She invites him in, despite the fact that her Columbian father would hate the association with a drug dealer. Maeve notices Nate’s attractiveness, and comments to Bronwyn in Spanish. As they give him a tour of the house, he asks Bronwyn to play the piano. She plays “Variations on the Canon” (George Winston), and realizes it is the most soulful performance of her life.
Meanwhile, Addy’s narration picks up on Friday night as well. She reveals that her mother flirted with Officer Budapest. He asks a few follow-up questions, and luckily, her older sister Ashton is there to play a more parental role. Officer Budapest asks why Addy was in the nurse’s office, and she says at first that she forgot to visit. Later, she admits that she went for Tylenol—but she doesn’t even know what an EpiPen looks like.
After the officer leaves, Ashton implies that she is breaking up with her husband, Charlie—and that she disapproves of Jake. Soon after, Jake arrives with TJ in tow. Addy is embarassed, and reveals this is because they had sex a month after her first time with Jake. She was insecure about her relationship, so she got drunk and propositioned him. Once the group arrives at the beach, TJ whispers to Addy that they can pretend it never happened. She is glad Simon is no longer around to reveal her secret.
Part One: Simon Says, Chapter 6
At the showcase on Saturday, Cooper pitches fantastically, making large strides from his junior-year stats. Josh Langley, the scout for the Padres, congratulates him, noting the “big jump in a short time.” It is implied that this advantage is “too good to be true.” Then, Cooper heads to Simon’s memorial service, where he runs into Leah Jackson, who tried to kill herself after Simon wrote about her sex life.
Leah informs Cooper of a new Tumblr post. The writer states that he took Simon’s EpiPens from the nurse’s office.
The narration picks up on Sunday with Nate’s perspective. Nate’s probation officer, Officer Lopez, encourages him to keep up with school, and to attend Alateen meetings. When she finds out that Simon’s funeral is occurring that day, she insists they go together. At the church, there are plainclothes officers everywhere. Nate half-listens while “that goth girl” (Janae) reads Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” At the end of the service, an officer pulls Nate aside.
Analysis
These chapters show the repercussions the four teens face. Witnessing Simon’s death is in effect a traumatic event, and although Bronwyn’s friends seek to comfort her, she craves conversation with someone who has been through the same thing. Although her life appears perfect on the outside (as evidenced by the large Victorian house she lives in), these chapters belie the difficulties that occur on the inside, especially handling her sister’s leukemia. Simon’s death is thus an echo of an outcome she perhaps expected for Maeve. Meanwhile, Nate has also experienced tragedy, so the two are drawn together.
While Nate and Bronwyn are drawn together by a shared depth of feeling, Addy’s narration shows some of the darker sides of her family dynamic as well. We already know that Addy’s mother believes she is not worthy of Jake. When Ashton enters the picture, we see how that might play out in the long term—only in her 20s, Ashton is already headed towards divorce, and returns home to soothe herself. Here, we see the theme of parents’ impact on their children once again. However, we also learn more detail about Addy’s indiscretion: she cheated on Jake. Now that TJ and Jake are becoming friends, she experiences feelings of shame and fraudulence.
While previous chapters suggest Cooper’s secret is also related to his love life, his brief encounter with a scout hints that he may have something else to hide—an explanation for how his fastball improved so quickly. In the world of baseball, steroids are implied.
While the other three characters’ lives are strongly shaped by their parents, this chapter continues to unravel how Nate has made a life in the absence of parents. Here, Officer Lopez is his parental stand-in. He has managed to hide his drug dealing from her, indicating that he is perhaps the most adept at lying. At the same time, she is friendly to his bearded dragon, Stan. In this case, Stan functions as a symbol for the possibility of Nate’s vulnerability and openness. When someone warms to his lizard, they get closer to Nate, too.
As the mystery of Simon’s death continues to unfold, Janae’s reading of “Song of Myself,” a Walt Whitman poem about every individual’s complexities, we are given more insight into Simon himself. In the chapters so far, he is a near-villainous cyberbully. His interest in poetry suggests perhaps a more sensitive side.
Finally, the continuing motif of social media recurs with the revelation that Simon’s posts drove Leah Jackson to attempt suicide. Here, we see that social media not only enacts a kind of violence—it can also lead to more violence.
