Final Countdown
Title: Final Countdown
Fandom: One Of Us Is Lying (book)
Characters: Jake, Simon, Addy, Cooper, TJ, Janae.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death.
Summary: Jake counts down the hours until detention. A few hours from now, Simon Kelleher will be dead; a few weeks from now, should all go Jake's way, Addy Prentiss will be arrested for his murder. As the hours tick down, Jake reflects on his relationships with Simon and Addy.
8.25am; Simon walks past where Jake sits with his friends, to all intents and purposes engrossed in conversation with Janae; no one notices the significant glance he casts in Jake’s direction as he passes. For a moment Jake wonders how he feels, knowing today’s going to be the last day of his life, what’s going through his mind right now. Then he wonders what he would do if he knew today was going to be the last day of his own; he knows he’d want to spend time with his friends, play some sport if he could. But he’s not sure what he’d do about Addy, whether he’d confront her, or take comfort in the fact that she’d be punished after he was gone.
It makes him sick now as he goes through the motions with Addy, all the time picturing TJ’s hands all over her body. But Jake knows he has to keep up the pretence of the relationship; if Addy suspects at any time that he is on to her, senses him pulling away from her, she could confront him about it, decide to end the relationship first (probably unlikely; Addy Prentiss had been nothing before Jake brought her into the group and he doubts she’d want to go back there again now she’s had a taste of being queen bee, but he doesn’t want to take that chance), anything that will blow his revenge plan out of the water. He and Simon have planned it all so carefully; it has to go his way.
12 noon; Jake takes a seat next to Cooper in the cafeteria, nodding along at what he thinks are the appropriate moments as Vanessa goes on about some party. Instead, he’s watching Simon and Janae from his vantage point across the room; Simon’s last meal, and it’s Bayview High’s freaking cafeteria food. Jake could almost feel sorry for the guy. Janae looks on edge; part of Jake wants to go over her and tell her to act normal, for God’s sake, before she draws people’s attention, but given that he never speaks to Janae, or at least not that anyone in school has ever seen, that would just attract attention even more.
Simon looks like he’s trying to distract Janae with his stupid jokes about the cafeteria food. It feels strange now to Jake to think that in the first few weeks of high school, before he met Cooper and Luis and the others, he would have been sat right there listening to Simon’s spiel. He’s reinvented himself now, one of the popular kids; as far as he knows, very few people remember, and those who hadn’t gone to the same middle school and hadn’t known them then wouldn’t know anyway, that Jake and Simon were once best friends. Luis had been surprised once to find out that had been the case and had asked about it, but had been pretty easily distracted from it and had never brought it up again. Fate had seemed to smile on Jake when Cooper the basketball star had moved to town, ended up sitting next to Jake in homeroom and they’d ended up bonding, Jake had been accepted onto the sports teams, and had then met Luis and Keely and Vanessa, and they’d formed the popular crowd. Jake was finally the person he’d always wanted to be, and if that meant leaving his former best friend behind, so be it. People grew apart all the time, everyone knew that, Simon was just going to have to accept it. Except Jake doesn’t think he ever really did. Addy said once that she wondered if Simon had started About That in the first place to impress Jake, and he thinks she’s right. The way he still tries to hang out with them, rigged the votes for prom court so he’d be right there with them…it was pathetic. In some ways, Jake thinks, it’ll be easier for him when Simon’s not there, no more constant reminder of the loser he used to be.
At one point, while they were planning it all out, Jake had asked Simon why he even still cared about the Nate and Keely thing. That had been ages ago, it hadn’t really developed into anything, Keely had been with Cooper for ages and had no interest in Nate now, and did he not think it was a little crazy? Simon had surprised him by laughing and saying “The guy who wants to frame his girlfriend for murder is questioning my sanity? You know, you told me once that we had nothing in common any more, but I think maybe we’re actually not all that different after all.”
Jake had pushed that aside. Simon was dwelling on something that had happened a long time ago; Jake had only just found out about Addy now. The situations weren’t the same at all. He was nothing like Simon. Nothing.
12:58pm: Addy doesn’t question it when Jake sends her off to get him some Tylenol. Why would she? Addy does everything Jake asks her to, and everyone knows it. It used to piss Jake off when people commented on that, but right now it suits his purposes, placing her in the nurse’s office and giving her an opportunity to remove all the Epi-Pens. Jake stops himself from reaching into his pocket where Simon’s actual Epi-Pen is currently resting, waiting for him to dispose of it appropriately later, along with all the rest of the stash from the office.
When Jake’s parents were having their problems over infidelity, Simon had been the person he’d turned to for support with that; perhaps it’s fitting now that he’s been the person Jake’s been able to talk to about Addy’s cheating. Jake’s current friends don’t know about that; his parents had chosen to stay together, and the affair was over long before Jake started hanging out with them, and there was no reason that they needed to know. The affair didn’t fit in with the image he was trying to cultivate of Jake Riordan, king of the school, living a perfect life. Most of his crowd (with the exception of Addy, whose mother brought home increasingly younger dudes; Jake half expected her to hit on him next) had the perfect families, or seemed to; Jake wanted everyone to believe his home life was perfect too, and Simon was the only person who knew that wasn’t the case.
In one way Jake felt it would be easier for him if that one person who knew the truth wasn’t around, yet in another he couldn’t help but think of the memories they had shared, think fondly of the way Simon had supported him through that. There was still time; he could run and find Simon now, call the whole thing off, find some other way of dealing with Addy. Then Addy returns, hands him the Tylenol and squeezes his hand, and Jake looks at her, looking like butter wouldn’t melt, and feels angry all over again. Forget all that he was just thinking. The plan’s on, and she’s going to pay.
2pm: As Cooper and TJ approach Jake, chatting away about the game coming up, Jake joins in with their conversation on autopilot, while thinking to himself about the punch in the face he’s planning to give TJ as soon as he and Addy become public knowledge. If it was up to Jake, he wouldn’t hang out with the guy at all, and he could certainly convince his friends to go along with freezing him out; Vanessa loved doing that and would freeze people out for breathing if she could. Jake was king of their class, TJ was just the new kid people didn’t know that well yet; it would be a no brainer. But he can’t show any obvious signs of animosity towards him yet without blowing the whole plan sky high. Sometimes he’s wondered if Addy will crack some time when Jake sets up a situation when TJ and Addy will be around each other, but he soon realised Addy was never likely to confess to anything without the issue being forced. Addy was determined to hold on to her place in the popular crowd; if her secret was exposed, she risked becoming as big an outcast as Simon and Janae. She’d just continue suffering in silence until such time as it was appropriate to go public with Simon’s blog post exposing her.
At one point, Jake had wanted to have TJ there in detention as well set up as a possible suspect, get his revenge on him as well; if both Addy and TJ ended up being charged, it would be so much the better for him. Simon was the one who had talked him out of that; he hadn’t really known TJ that well since TJ was new to the school, and had no issues with him. Besides, Simon had wanted to pursue his own vendettas at the same time as helping Jake with his. Jake had no opinions either way about what happened to Nate Macauley or Bronwyn Rojas; he doubts he’s ever spoken any more than two words to Bronwyn in his life, ditto for Macauley although from what he knows of him, that guy had been trouble ever since elementary, at least according to Olivia who’d been in his class then, and was always gonna end up in worse trouble one day, and besides, if all went to plan they’d both be cleared of all involvement once Addy was arrested anyway, so what did it matter?
But Cooper was his best friend; Jake had tried to argue with Simon against including him at all, but Simon had insisted; Cooper had been the one to get him excluded from Vanessa’s party, Cooper had to pay. When Simon had threatened to pull the plug on the whole thing, said he would find another way, Jake had given in, but insisted that Simon pull the original version of his blog that outed Cooper and replace it with the steroids story. It was an allegation that was gonna be easy enough to disprove, and once that was done, Cooper wouldn’t be seen to have a motive any more and there would be no more interest in him. Jake had no interest in outing the guy; hopefully people wouldn’t ask too many questions about the fact that Simon had been going to post something that wasn’t true when he’d never been wrong before, and once Addy was named as the killer the chances were no one would care any more anyway.
3:54pm. Jake’s been watching his phone all afternoon, waiting for the call to come in, every minute that ticks by without his phone ringing he wonders if all went as planned, if Simon went through with it. Assuming he did, everything should have gone well; all Jake has to do now is go through the motions for a little longer, acting the supportive boyfriend to Addy right up until the blog post becomes public knowledge.
The phone rings; Jake listens as Addy sobs incoherently, as Cooper takes the phone from her and explains the situation. He’s surprised by how empty he feels as it finally sinks in; Simon is dead. And in a few weeks, Addy will be arrested for his murder. The two people who had been the most important in his life will be gone from it. But he’s still got a little way to go before Addy’s arrested and his revenge plan is complete. He still has work to do.
Fandom: One Of Us Is Lying (book)
Characters: Jake, Simon, Addy, Cooper, TJ, Janae.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Character death.
Summary: Jake counts down the hours until detention. A few hours from now, Simon Kelleher will be dead; a few weeks from now, should all go Jake's way, Addy Prentiss will be arrested for his murder. As the hours tick down, Jake reflects on his relationships with Simon and Addy.
8.25am; Simon walks past where Jake sits with his friends, to all intents and purposes engrossed in conversation with Janae; no one notices the significant glance he casts in Jake’s direction as he passes. For a moment Jake wonders how he feels, knowing today’s going to be the last day of his life, what’s going through his mind right now. Then he wonders what he would do if he knew today was going to be the last day of his own; he knows he’d want to spend time with his friends, play some sport if he could. But he’s not sure what he’d do about Addy, whether he’d confront her, or take comfort in the fact that she’d be punished after he was gone.
It makes him sick now as he goes through the motions with Addy, all the time picturing TJ’s hands all over her body. But Jake knows he has to keep up the pretence of the relationship; if Addy suspects at any time that he is on to her, senses him pulling away from her, she could confront him about it, decide to end the relationship first (probably unlikely; Addy Prentiss had been nothing before Jake brought her into the group and he doubts she’d want to go back there again now she’s had a taste of being queen bee, but he doesn’t want to take that chance), anything that will blow his revenge plan out of the water. He and Simon have planned it all so carefully; it has to go his way.
12 noon; Jake takes a seat next to Cooper in the cafeteria, nodding along at what he thinks are the appropriate moments as Vanessa goes on about some party. Instead, he’s watching Simon and Janae from his vantage point across the room; Simon’s last meal, and it’s Bayview High’s freaking cafeteria food. Jake could almost feel sorry for the guy. Janae looks on edge; part of Jake wants to go over her and tell her to act normal, for God’s sake, before she draws people’s attention, but given that he never speaks to Janae, or at least not that anyone in school has ever seen, that would just attract attention even more.
Simon looks like he’s trying to distract Janae with his stupid jokes about the cafeteria food. It feels strange now to Jake to think that in the first few weeks of high school, before he met Cooper and Luis and the others, he would have been sat right there listening to Simon’s spiel. He’s reinvented himself now, one of the popular kids; as far as he knows, very few people remember, and those who hadn’t gone to the same middle school and hadn’t known them then wouldn’t know anyway, that Jake and Simon were once best friends. Luis had been surprised once to find out that had been the case and had asked about it, but had been pretty easily distracted from it and had never brought it up again. Fate had seemed to smile on Jake when Cooper the basketball star had moved to town, ended up sitting next to Jake in homeroom and they’d ended up bonding, Jake had been accepted onto the sports teams, and had then met Luis and Keely and Vanessa, and they’d formed the popular crowd. Jake was finally the person he’d always wanted to be, and if that meant leaving his former best friend behind, so be it. People grew apart all the time, everyone knew that, Simon was just going to have to accept it. Except Jake doesn’t think he ever really did. Addy said once that she wondered if Simon had started About That in the first place to impress Jake, and he thinks she’s right. The way he still tries to hang out with them, rigged the votes for prom court so he’d be right there with them…it was pathetic. In some ways, Jake thinks, it’ll be easier for him when Simon’s not there, no more constant reminder of the loser he used to be.
At one point, while they were planning it all out, Jake had asked Simon why he even still cared about the Nate and Keely thing. That had been ages ago, it hadn’t really developed into anything, Keely had been with Cooper for ages and had no interest in Nate now, and did he not think it was a little crazy? Simon had surprised him by laughing and saying “The guy who wants to frame his girlfriend for murder is questioning my sanity? You know, you told me once that we had nothing in common any more, but I think maybe we’re actually not all that different after all.”
Jake had pushed that aside. Simon was dwelling on something that had happened a long time ago; Jake had only just found out about Addy now. The situations weren’t the same at all. He was nothing like Simon. Nothing.
12:58pm: Addy doesn’t question it when Jake sends her off to get him some Tylenol. Why would she? Addy does everything Jake asks her to, and everyone knows it. It used to piss Jake off when people commented on that, but right now it suits his purposes, placing her in the nurse’s office and giving her an opportunity to remove all the Epi-Pens. Jake stops himself from reaching into his pocket where Simon’s actual Epi-Pen is currently resting, waiting for him to dispose of it appropriately later, along with all the rest of the stash from the office.
When Jake’s parents were having their problems over infidelity, Simon had been the person he’d turned to for support with that; perhaps it’s fitting now that he’s been the person Jake’s been able to talk to about Addy’s cheating. Jake’s current friends don’t know about that; his parents had chosen to stay together, and the affair was over long before Jake started hanging out with them, and there was no reason that they needed to know. The affair didn’t fit in with the image he was trying to cultivate of Jake Riordan, king of the school, living a perfect life. Most of his crowd (with the exception of Addy, whose mother brought home increasingly younger dudes; Jake half expected her to hit on him next) had the perfect families, or seemed to; Jake wanted everyone to believe his home life was perfect too, and Simon was the only person who knew that wasn’t the case.
In one way Jake felt it would be easier for him if that one person who knew the truth wasn’t around, yet in another he couldn’t help but think of the memories they had shared, think fondly of the way Simon had supported him through that. There was still time; he could run and find Simon now, call the whole thing off, find some other way of dealing with Addy. Then Addy returns, hands him the Tylenol and squeezes his hand, and Jake looks at her, looking like butter wouldn’t melt, and feels angry all over again. Forget all that he was just thinking. The plan’s on, and she’s going to pay.
2pm: As Cooper and TJ approach Jake, chatting away about the game coming up, Jake joins in with their conversation on autopilot, while thinking to himself about the punch in the face he’s planning to give TJ as soon as he and Addy become public knowledge. If it was up to Jake, he wouldn’t hang out with the guy at all, and he could certainly convince his friends to go along with freezing him out; Vanessa loved doing that and would freeze people out for breathing if she could. Jake was king of their class, TJ was just the new kid people didn’t know that well yet; it would be a no brainer. But he can’t show any obvious signs of animosity towards him yet without blowing the whole plan sky high. Sometimes he’s wondered if Addy will crack some time when Jake sets up a situation when TJ and Addy will be around each other, but he soon realised Addy was never likely to confess to anything without the issue being forced. Addy was determined to hold on to her place in the popular crowd; if her secret was exposed, she risked becoming as big an outcast as Simon and Janae. She’d just continue suffering in silence until such time as it was appropriate to go public with Simon’s blog post exposing her.
At one point, Jake had wanted to have TJ there in detention as well set up as a possible suspect, get his revenge on him as well; if both Addy and TJ ended up being charged, it would be so much the better for him. Simon was the one who had talked him out of that; he hadn’t really known TJ that well since TJ was new to the school, and had no issues with him. Besides, Simon had wanted to pursue his own vendettas at the same time as helping Jake with his. Jake had no opinions either way about what happened to Nate Macauley or Bronwyn Rojas; he doubts he’s ever spoken any more than two words to Bronwyn in his life, ditto for Macauley although from what he knows of him, that guy had been trouble ever since elementary, at least according to Olivia who’d been in his class then, and was always gonna end up in worse trouble one day, and besides, if all went to plan they’d both be cleared of all involvement once Addy was arrested anyway, so what did it matter?
But Cooper was his best friend; Jake had tried to argue with Simon against including him at all, but Simon had insisted; Cooper had been the one to get him excluded from Vanessa’s party, Cooper had to pay. When Simon had threatened to pull the plug on the whole thing, said he would find another way, Jake had given in, but insisted that Simon pull the original version of his blog that outed Cooper and replace it with the steroids story. It was an allegation that was gonna be easy enough to disprove, and once that was done, Cooper wouldn’t be seen to have a motive any more and there would be no more interest in him. Jake had no interest in outing the guy; hopefully people wouldn’t ask too many questions about the fact that Simon had been going to post something that wasn’t true when he’d never been wrong before, and once Addy was named as the killer the chances were no one would care any more anyway.
3:54pm. Jake’s been watching his phone all afternoon, waiting for the call to come in, every minute that ticks by without his phone ringing he wonders if all went as planned, if Simon went through with it. Assuming he did, everything should have gone well; all Jake has to do now is go through the motions for a little longer, acting the supportive boyfriend to Addy right up until the blog post becomes public knowledge.
The phone rings; Jake listens as Addy sobs incoherently, as Cooper takes the phone from her and explains the situation. He’s surprised by how empty he feels as it finally sinks in; Simon is dead. And in a few weeks, Addy will be arrested for his murder. The two people who had been the most important in his life will be gone from it. But he’s still got a little way to go before Addy’s arrested and his revenge plan is complete. He still has work to do.