One of Us Is Next

A week after Brandon’s death, Emma and Phoebe give Knox a ride home from school. Phoebe thinks about the new developments since Brandon’s passing: Sean and Jules are a couple, Knox and Maeve are barely speaking, and Phoebe has been spending a lot of time with Knox. From what Phoebe has heard, the Truth or Dare game pretty much ended after the revelation about Maeve and Knox. She thinks that maybe Brandon was behind the game since the texts stopped after his death. Oddly, Sean has initiated a bromance with Knox. Knox still can’t remember what happened that day at the construction site. Emma is acting civil toward Phoebe, and Phoebe guesses that Brandon’s death inspired her civility.

Phoebe impulsively invites Knox over, saying that he should play Bounty Wars with Owen. On the way home, their car gets a flat tire. Phoebe tries to text her mom but realizes her phone died. Phoebe asks Emma to call their mom, but Emma reminds her that she lost her phone a week before. Phoebe finds it strange that Emma doesn’t miss her phone while Knox changes the tire. On the way up to the apartment, Knox says that his dad has been investigating why the roof collapsed on Brandon and not anyone else, especially since people have been taking that shortcut for months. Knox tells Phoebe about the death threats they’ve been receiving at Until Proven. Phoebe thinks, “Eli is always treated like a hero in the media, which I thought was a good thing. It never occurred to me that that kind of visibility could be dangerous” (157). While Knox and Owen play Bounty Hunters, Phoebe thinks that, in the future, she’ll kick herself for not seeing Knox as anything other than a friend. Phoebe goes into her room and notices that Emma is crying and becomes suspicious of what’s in Emma’s mug. Confirming her suspicions, Emma slurs her words and Phoebe asks her why she’s drinking at three in the afternoon. Emma asks Phoebe to leave and, even though Phoebe wants to be there for her sister, she does what Emma asks.

Phoebe must pry Knox away from Owen at about five o’clock. While Phoebe is driving Knox home, Knox says that playing Bounty Wars reminded him of something. Knox begins to explain how players can kill each other in the game. He said his target was on a roof and when he went to take him out, he had a flashback of Sean at the construction site. He “saw him standing at the edge of the construction site with his phone held up in front of him. Like he was taking a picture, or a video” (160). In the flashback, Sean was alarmed when he saw Knox and rushed toward him. Phoebe tells Knox to play more Bounty Wars to jog his memory.

Knox’s sisters pester him about finding a date for prom in their group chat. Knox hasn’t told his sisters about what happened in the Truth or Dare game or what happened between him and Maeve. He also doesn’t know if he should let Sean’s story stand so that he doesn’t become the joke of the whole school again. Knox wonders if Phoebe might go to prom with him. Knox thinks that she’s too out of his league but that they would have fun together as friends.

Knox feels restless and decides to head to Café Contigo. As he leaves home, he hears his dad talking about the construction site and the Webers. His Dad says that if Lance Weber decides to sue, that he may sue in return, because the site was off-limits and the children were trespassing. Mr. Myers says that he hopes its just the grief talking because he’s pulled many strings to keep Brandon out of trouble. He says, “it’s beyond hypocritical” (162). Fritz, the family dog, comes into the kitchen and gives Knox’s presence away. His parents shut down Knox’s questions about Brandon Weber’s father and his former case, and his mother asks him to return by eleven o’clock.

Knox enters Café Contigo and Sean greets him. He wonders if his memory of Sean is true or just him imagining things after a traumatic event. Knox decides that Sean is mostly likely not smart enough to delete evidence off his phone, and so he impulsively tries to convince Sean to hand over his phone. Knox asks Sean if he can look something up on his phone because he left his at home. Sean pauses and then points out that Knox’s phone is in the packet of his backpack. Luis overhears the conversation and asks Knox why he wants Sean’s phone. Knox decides that he can share his agenda with Luis and tells him that Sean has a video on his phone from the day Brandon died.

Suddenly, the dark-haired man who was looking for Phoebe at the café, enters the restaurant. Intense Guy, as Knox dubbed him, sits down quietly in a corner. Relieved that Phoebe doesn’t seem to be working, Knox wonders if this guy is Derek. The man pays for a coffee that he doesn’t drink, sits for a moment, and then leaves.

Maeve watches Cooper pitch for Cal State Fullerton in a game against UCLA. She sits beside Kris, Cooper’s boyfriend, and Cooper’s grandmother. Maeve thinks that Cooper and Kris have such a bright future ahead of them. Suddenly, Maeve feels moisture in her nose. She retreats to the bathroom, praying that she is not having another nosebleed. Maeve looks at the tissue and begins to cry at the sight of bright red blood. She thinks, “despite my best efforts at pretending none of this is happening, it is, and I don’t know what to do. I feel isolated, hopeless, terrified, and just plain exhausted” (170). After leaving the restroom, Maeve passes by the concession stand and sees Sean, Jules, Monica, and Luis. Monica flirts with Luis and Maeve briefly thinks she hates them all. Luis thanks Sean and leaves, despite Monica asking him to share popcorn with her. Luis turns in Maeve’s direction and notices she has been crying. Maeve, angry with her leukemia symptoms re-emerging, picks on Luis for being friends with Sean. Maeve tells Luis that he’s just another “Dudebro” (171). She feels another nosebleed coming and says that she hopes Luis enjoys his popcorn with Monica. Luis stops her and asks for her number, not to bother her but to send some videos to Knox. Maeve realizes that she’s just been mean to Luis for no reason.

Nate sees Maeve and the blood on her shirt and face. She can tell by the look on Nate’s face that Bronwyn has told him what nosebleeds mean for her. He embraces Maeve and she cries into his chest. Nate asks Maeve why she hasn’t told anyone about her relapse. She tells Nate that he has no idea what relapsing is like. She says, “Everything is sad. Normal life stops and we all climb on this miserable treatment roller coaster that only goes down. It’s horrible and it hurts in every way possible, and the worst thing is, it doesn’t work” (173). She says she doesn’t know if she can go through treatment again. Nate tells her that if she doesn’t want to do treatment for herself, to do it for her sister and her parents. Maeve agrees to tell her parents and, as she does, she feels a sense of relief.

Maeve, Knox, and Phoebe sit on the floor, backstage at the Bayview High auditorium. Maeve plays them the video Luis sent her from Sean’s phone taken the day Brandon died. She says Luis borrowed Sean’s phone at the baseball game last night. The video begins with an image of Brandon, standing at the edge of the construction site. Phoebe gets teary eyed and thinks, “I almost forgot how beautiful he was” (176). His voice sends chills down her spine. Brandon complains about something being boring and tells Sean he wishes he had gotten something similar to his. Sean taunts Brandon asking if he’s afraid to jump, to which Brandon responds that he should do a backflip. Jules’s voice can be heard saying that a backflip would be amazing. Monica chimes in, saying at least he gets to play. Sean starts chanting for Brandon to jump and Jules and Monica join. Brandon jumps, and Phoebe closes her eyes. She hears the crash. Chaos ensues and Sean shouts that Brandon fell through the roof. There is some murmuring and then Sean exclaims that Myers is there. The screen goes black.

Maeve says this tragic event was obviously a dare for the game. Yet, the video still doesn’t explain why Sean punched Knox. They debate what should be done with the video. Phoebe thinks that if they turn the video in, the entire Truth or Dare game would be revealed and everyone would have their phones taken. She thinks, more importantly, parents would learn all the secrets that were leaked. Just as Phoebe notices that Maeve has dark circles under her eyes and messy hair, she gets up to leave. She says she has a doctor’s appointment and tells them she’s been having symptoms and may not be around as much. Phoebe is shocked and Knox jumps up, asking why she didn’t tell him. He insists that he accompany her to the appointment. As they talk, Phoebe begins to feel like she’s intruding on a personal and long overdue conversation and takes the opportunity to leave.

Leaving the auditorium, Phoebe almost trips over Matthias’s foot, sticking out in the aisle. Matthias says that he had English with Emma before lunch, that she wasn’t feeling well, and that she took their car home. Before leaving, Phoebe asks Matthias if he has anything to do with the Truth or Dare texting game. Phoebe says that he did start Simon Says and Matthias hangs his head, claiming that that was different. Matthias says he just wanted to see what it was like to have people pay attention to him for once. He concedes that he has no idea how to find out secrets like that because no one talks to him. Phoebe feels bad and says Matthias can eat lunch with her and her friends tomorrow. Matthias looks down and declines.

As Phoebe arrives at her apartment, her phone rings. Her mom asks if Emma is with her. She says that Emma is supposed to be doing a walkthrough of a restaurant where Ashton and Eli are having a rehearsal dinner but didn’t show. Phoebe begins to worry because Emma does not usually forget her obligations, even when she is sick. Phoebe goes in their room and finds Emma passed out on her bed. She picks up Emma’s mug and smells gin. Emma wakes up and tells Phoebe that she needs to ask her something. She says, “Did you love him?” (183). Phoebe assumes she means Derek. Emma continues, saying that she knows it’s over, but that she “didn’t think he’d keep going” (183).

At the law firm, Knox asks Sandeep why he hasn’t opened the newest death threat yet. Sandeep responds that he needs gloves, because at this point, they’ve received so many threats that the police need to be notified. Sandeep says he thinks it has something to do with the D’ Agostino case. Knox checks his phone, expecting a text from Maeve with the results from her doctor’s appointment. He thinks

This morning, I was still mad at Maeve. I was okay with the fact that holding a grudge might lose me a friend. But that was when the loss wasn’t a tangible, permanent thing. Now, I can’t stop thinking about how rare it is to have someone you can be completely real with, even when things get raw and uncomfortable and a little scary (186).

Knox goes to hand Sandeep his coat, but Sandeep says its Nate Macauley’s who came in earlier to talk about the Simon Kelleher case. Knox offers to drop Nate’s coat off for Sandeep.

Knox enters the meeting room Eli is in to debrief him on upcoming events. Eli tells Knox that he never would have imagined marrying someone like Ashton, and he says that he never even had a date until he was 19 years old. He adds that the only time girls talked to him was when they needed help with homework. Knox thinks, “That was a transparent attempt to make me feel better about the fact that I’m here every Friday night, and you know what? It kind of worked” (188).

Nate rents a room out of a larger, rundown old Victorian home (189). As Knox turns the corner onto Nate’s street, he hears music and people laughing. Knox fights his way through the partygoers until he reaches Nate’s room. Nate asks Knox about Maeve, and both agree that its good she finally got tested. Knox is about to leave when he notices Nate’s computer. Nate says he’s helping Knox’s Dad with document cleanup at the mall site where Brandon died. He says that there is a certain set of documents bugging him and he asks Knox to look. Nate says that there isn’t the amount of debris expected when a well-constructed landing crashes down. He says the beams don’t have any joists, which keeps them up and in place, but they have holes like joists used to be there, so Nate thinks someone messed with the landing.

Knox arrives home and finds his dad alone at the kitchen table. They argue about Knox’s work ethic. Finally ready to stand up for himself, Knox asks his dad why he’s never asked him to work for the construction company. Knox says that his dad would realize how hard of a worker he is if he’d given him the chance to work for the company. Knox adds that he treats Nate like the son he’s always wanted. His dad becomes furious when Knox brings up his withholding of information concerning the construction site. He says that Knox was trespassing and has “zero respect for what I say, or the work I do” (194). Knox feels ashamed and regrets that his father thinks he doesn’t respect his work. His dad dismisses him, and Knox goes to his room, defeated.