Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Simon thinks the worst thing about Martin blackmailing him is that he can't bring it up with Blue. Though they don't talk about any identifying details of their identities, they otherwise don't keep secrets from each other. Simon explains how he found Blue on the creeksecrets Tumblr. Blue posted about the difficulties of getting to know people, how lonely he feels, and how he feels simultaneously hidden and exposed about being gay. Simon commented "THIS" and left his secret email account. Blue emailed him a week later. Simon thinks that if Blue found out that Martin had screenshots of their emails, he'd stop emailing altogether. Simon doesn't want to lose Blue.

Simon avoids Martin all week and feels cowardly for doing so, even though he's already decided to help Martin. On "Bachelorette night"—the night that Simon's family watches The Bachelorette and then video chats with Alice at Wesleyan to discuss the show—Simon is distracted. He considers telling his parents about Martin's blackmail, but decides he's not ready to be out in small-town Georgia. He thinks about Leah's hobby of drawing yaoi (manga that depicts gay relationships between pop culture characters) and his affinity for homoerotic Harry Potter fanfiction.

Nora sets up the video chat on the living room computer and calls Alice. Simon tries to participate in the conversation, but he's distracted thinking about Martin and wondering if Blue thinks he's a fake since he’s dated girls in the past. He also notices that Nora now has five piercings on one ear and struggles to concentrate on anything else—this seems out of character for Nora.

As Mom and Alice discuss one contestant, Dad insists that contestant is gay and a "one-man Pride Parade." Simon thinks he agrees with Leah that it's terrible to be insulted by proxy, but reasons that if his dad is truly homophobic, that's a good thing to know.

A week after Martin and Simon's first conversation, Martin runs into Simon at lunch and asks to sit at his table. Simon awkwardly insists that all the seats at his table are taken, and they're already squeezing two extra chairs at a six-person table. Martin sighs that he thought they were on the same page with the "Abby thing," and Simon growls that Martin needs to let him talk to Abby himself.

Days pass, and Simon says nothing to Abby. He does his best to avoid Martin by sticking close to Nick and Leah. One morning, Nora asks if something is up when Simon insists on sitting in the car until school starts. She lets him be, but Simon thinks that she's becoming weirdly observant. A few minutes later, Nick knocks on the window and climbs into the passenger seat to watch YouTube videos. Simon is acutely aware that Nick knows that there's something going on, but Nick says nothing. Simon muses that he knows all of Nick's tics, but really doesn't know anything going on inside Nick's head.

On Thursday, Simon gets to rehearsal early, so he steps outside to listen to music. Martin joins him and accuses Simon of avoiding him. He promises he's not going to show the emails to anyone, but Simon doesn't believe this. He thinks he doesn't know Martin at all, but he severely underestimated him. Finally, Simon says he'll talk to Abby and angrily agrees to exchange phone numbers with Martin.

As Simon steps back inside, Ms. Albright calls for Simon and some other actors to rehearse a scene. Abby hugs Simon and tells him that she's in "Taylor hell," referring to lead actress Taylor Metternich. Taylor is perfect, but she is nasty about it. Ms. Albright leads the cast in some blocking exercises as Cal, the student stage manager, makes notes on his script. Simon suspects that Cal might be gay and thinks he's extremely attractive. As Simon happily acts, he catches Martin's eye and thinks he's hard to truly hate.

After rehearsal, Simon sits with Abby, who has to wait for a bus to take her an hour across town. All the black kids at school have to do this. Simon asks Martin, who's sitting nearby, if he's going to Garrett's Halloween party the next day. In his excitement to accept, Martin trips over his shoelace and then bows to Abby like he just performed something amazing. She laughs and then tells Simon she didn't know he was friends with Martin.