One of Us Is Next

Knox leaves the wedding to visit Phoebe, where Mrs. Lawton greets him and says he can see her for a few minutes. Knox goes up to the new roof deck the building just installed, which scares Knox since he is afraid of heights. Knox walks over to Phoebe and offers her cake. Phoebe thanks Knox for figuring everything out and for saving everyone’s lives. She begins to think of how awful it would be if more people died, and she begins to cry. Knox thinks, “I’m frozen for a few seconds, torn between total misery and the terrifying void behind her” (269). Phoebe struggles with understanding the truth of her dads and Brandon’s death. When Phoebe hugs Knox, she realizes his heart is beating out of his chest and he reveals his fear of heights. They move to the center of the roof.

Phoebe says, “You’re the bravest person I’ve ever met […] Do you know what I thought, back there? I thought your heart was beating so fast because of me” (269). Phoebe mistakes Knox’s surprise for horror, who in turn, tells her that he wasn’t horrified but surprised because she is out of his league. Phoebe kisses Knox, but he stops her once he realizes she is still crying. He suggests they try this again once she feels better. Phoebe thanks him for coming.

It’s late when Knox finally gets home. Knox thinks of their kiss, “And who knows, maybe Phoebe meant it. Wouldn’t that be something?” (271). He drops his keys and moves toward his room, but his dad hears him and calls out. Knox tells his dad that what he’s doing for Nate is great and kind. Knox finally apologizes for cutting through the mall site. He says he does listen to him and respects his work. His dad apologizes in return, saying that he knows Knox is a hard worker. His dad adds that he respects Knox’s bravery and intelligence from the other night. The two hug, and Mr. Lawton says he is proud of Knox “always” (272).

Phoebe parks at school for the first time since Emma ended up in the hospital. She thinks

I’m scared to be here. Scared of what people will think, and say, now that the truth is starting to come out. I’m afraid they’ll hate Emma—and me. I can’t blame them, because most of the time I hate us, too. Emma for starting this mess, and me for giving her a push off the deep end by hooking up with Derek at the worst possible time (273).

She deals with the conflicting feelings she has toward Brandon, whom she hates for contributing to her dad’s death but who didn’t deserve to die as punishment. Phoebe receives a text from Knox saying that he and Maeve are waiting to walk in with her. She thinks that she likes Knox, and that “maybe Future Phoebe, who could appreciate someone like Knox, isn’t as far away as I thought” (274). She walks in and bumps into Sean and Jules making out. Jules tells Sean to go inside, and he listens, prompting Jules to tell Phoebe Sean isn’t as bad as she may think. Phoebe asks Jules why they lied about Brandon’s dare. Jules said Sean thought it would be easier to lie, because then the whole game and all the awful truths about everyone wouldn’t have to be explained. Jules says that Sean hit Knox because he freaked out when he saw a witness to Brandon’s death. Jules apologizes for abandoning Phoebe, who forces herself to tell Jules she’s glad she’s happy. Jules links arms with Phoebe and they walk into school together.

Emma’s lawyer is a man named, Martin McCoy who has bright orange hair, like their dad, which weirdly makes Phoebe trust him. He asks Emma to explain exactly how she met Jared, what they talked about, and how things ended. Emma says she’d just learned about Phoebe and Derek. Things escalated when she went looking through her mom’s files, trying to figure out how much money they set aside for college, when she found the settlement paperwork from her dad’s accident. She searched for Simon Kelleher’s old revenge forum and met Jared. They started to chat offline with ChatApp where she used Phoebe’s name to keep her own identity secure. Jared said he could help ‘Phoebe’ if she helped him in return. Emma claims that she knew nothing of Eli’s connection to Jared until Detective Mendoza told her at the hospital. All she knew was, “someone had ruined his brother’s life, and his mom killed herself because of it” (278).

She says that Jared suggested they hurt Brandon, but only to the point where he couldn’t play football, so that he could lose something important too. Emma states, “At the time it seemed…fair” (278). She says the Truth or Dare game was entirely Jared’s idea. He said they should build the game slowly so that it wouldn’t be a question of whether Brandon would take a dare. Emma says, “If you’ve ever played Truth or Dare, you know most people will take Dare. Because they want to seem…daring, I guess. Plus nobody wants to deal with the truth” (278). They had to start the game with a shocking truth and then target people they knew would play along. Emma reveals that she used the secret about Phoebe that Derek shared with her on purpose. Emma said once the game started, she instantly regretted it and wanted to put an end to all the gossip. Emma said she asked Jared to stop the game and then deleted the app. But the game kept going and Brandon died, causing Emma to fall into a deep depression and alcohol addiction.

Emma claims that midnight the same night the first text about Phoebe went out is when she asked Jared to stop and deleted the ChatApp. Martin takes out a sheet of paper and hands her a copy of the conversation, asking her if this is the event she is referring. Martin says that everything Emma claims is consistent with his findings, up until February 19, where a conversation with ‘Phoebe’ and Jared starts back up again.

Their mom stares at Emma, demanding an answer. Emma swears that this new ‘Phoebe’ is not her. Martin says that due to the immense stress Jared was under, with his brother’s arrest, father’s illness, and mother’s suicide, that this could be the deranged ramblings of someone dealing with immense trauma. He adds that the theory could be advanced if the latter part of the conversations show a distinct change in speech patterns. Martin asks Emma to note places where she thinks the speech pattern is different. Phoebe looks at them and feels hope when she thinks these texts don’t sound like Emma at all.

Then Phoebe’s hurt drops when she reads, “The more bazaar the better right? Lol” (283). Phoebe thinks of how her brother is always listening at their doors, how he’s tech savvy, how he’s always lonely, how he watched Brandon assault her, and how he said their family is ruined. She thinks, “My spelling bee champion brother making a rare yet memorable error. The reunion between ‘Phoebe’ and Jared happened before I’d had the chance to correct him” (284). She thinks that Owen fits the narrative, “the ultimate Bounty Wars challenge, planning one move after the other” (284). Emma, aware of Owen’s involvement as well, asks to see the very end of the transcripts. Martin says the conversation stopped the day Brandon Weber died. The texts include ‘Phoebe’ saying that this isn’t what they wanted to happen, followed by Jared’s anger at being ghosted.

Phoebe looks at Emma and for the first time in years, they have a conversation without words. “Just like we used to when we were kids, reading thoughts written across one another’s faces” (285). Emma fixes the missed button on her Oxford, looks up with composure, and states that these texts are clearly Jared speaking to himself.