Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in One of Us is Lying, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Stereotypes and Unlikely Connections
Gossip, Secrets, and Lies
Wisdom of the Youth
Millennial Problems
Summary
Analysis
Wednesday afternoon at lunch, Bronwyn and Addy sit together and talk about nail polish—an “innocuous” conversation compared to yesterday’s topic, when they discussed Bronwyn’s police visit, Nate’s mother, and the fact that Addy was called down to the station to answer even more questions about the missing epi-pens. In the midst of their simple, normal conversation, though, they hear other students talking about how Mikhail Powers’ film crew is out front, interviewing anyone who will talk to them.
Bronwyn and Addy’s lives—just so simple and dull a few weeks ago—have become intense and serious, with very high stakes. A boring conversation about nail polish is now a luxury—a luxury which both girls indulge in this passage, even though they both know they can only escape their “new normal” for so long.
Themes
Cooper comes over to say hello, and Bronwyn jokingly asks if Cooper has given Mikhail Powers an interview yet. Leah, one table over, interjects that all four should give interviews and declare themselves “the murder club everybody thinks [they] are.” Maeve jumps to her sister’s defense, pointing out that no one is talking about the other angle—about how awful About That made Bayview. Maeve suggests Leah go talk to the press and tell them the other side of the story for once. Leah abruptly states that she just might before standing up and leaving.
Maeve knows that there is more to the story than the media is reporting—she wants to spread awareness about what’s really going on, and re-center people’s perspectives around the truth of what their high school was like before Simon died.
Themes
Maeve begins typing furiously on her phone, and tells Bronwyn that she’s sending Simon’s 4chan threads to Mikhail Powers’s team. She has been reading the threads for days, and is disturbed by the way the posters discuss school shootings. Janae becomes upset, grabbing Maeve’s wrist and proclaiming that no one really knew Simon before stomping away. Bronwyn briefly wonders why Janae even continues sitting with them when they all just provide daily reminders of Simon—it occurs to her that perhaps Janae wants to hear conversations like the one they’ve just had.
As Janae reveals that she’s still allegiant to Simon—even after the revelations that have come to light about him in the form of the 4chan forum posts—everyone begins to wonder whether Janae is so broken up about Simon that she’d resort to copycat behavior or an attempt to infiltrate the “murder club” to make sure they’re found guilty.
Themes
Friday morning, Addy is running track during gym when Vanessa intentionally trips her. Vanessa pretends to try to help Addy up, but then whispers in her ear that she is a “slut” as soon as she gets close. Addy’s gym teacher comes over and inspects her scrapes, then instructs her to head to the nurse—with Janae’s help. Addy heads to the locker room, however, instead of the nurse’s office, insisting she just needs a shower. After cleaning up, Addy gets dressed while Janae helps her put Band-Aids on her cut.
Addy’s new life is liberating but sometimes humiliating. The girls who were once her friends now hate her and actively try to harm her, as if her actions with TJ directly affected them. Addy just has to pick herself up and move on, though, when things like this happen.
Themes
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Addy muses that she’s getting what she deserves, just like Simon wanted—everyone’s secrets are out in the open. Janae quietly says that though Simon went overboard with About That, he wasn’t what everyone thought he was. When he was “himself,” he “wouldn’t have wanted” pain or humiliation for Addy.
Addy heads off for the library, and asks Janae to cover for her and tell the gym teacher she’s still at the nurse. Janae surprises Addy by asking if she wants to hang out this afternoon—Addy agrees, and Janae asks if she can come over to Addy’s house after school. The two make a plan, and Addy gets excited at the thought of bringing home a friend like Janae after years of having only “pretty-perky” friends like Keely.
Addy, perhaps additionally spurred by how cruel Vanessa’s attack on her was, leaps at the opportunity to hang out with Janae, even though Janae, a Goth girl on the social fringes, is the last person the old Addy ever would have been friends with—and even though Janae clearly still harbors a deep attachment to (and possibly wants revenge for) Simon.
Themes
Janae arrives at Addy’s house shortly after Addy herself. The two girls make small talk with Addy’s mother for a while before heading upstairs to watch Netflix. Looking around at Addy’s princess-pink room, Janae asks Addy if she misses her life “before”; Addy replies that she sometimes does, but knows things are better now that she has friends who actually care about her.
In just the span of a few days, Addy has gone from longing for things to be the way they once were to embracing her new trajectory in life; she has welcomed Janae into her house, and yet Janae still seems wary about the authenticity of her connection with Addy.
Themes
Janae asks for something to drink, and Addy heads downstairs to get lemonade for the two of them. When she arrives back upstairs, Janae is standing in the doorway with her backpack on—she complains that she isn’t feeling well and leaves. Addy texts Bronwyn, complaining about how weird the situation is, and Bronwyn writes back almost immediately: “Be careful. I don’t trust her.”
Addy has thought Janae’s behavior to be slightly overeager but ultimately innocuous; after this weird exchange, though, and Bronwyn’s admission that Janae doesn’t seem entirely trustworthy, Addy is forced to question her own judgement—and her own eagerness to make new friends.
Themes
