#jared jackson

i know right? i don't want to take away from the Bayview four and the suffering that they faced, but Simon effected Maeve in ways that aren't fully visible.

Let's start with the fact that he ruined her social life. He knew what he was doing. Here was a girl who was mocked because of her cancer to begin with, and she does one embarrassing thing, and he knows he can benefit from it. Bronwyn said it best: Simon was casually cruel because he could be. Everyone knew about Maeve's crush on the basketball player. Even Phoebe mentioned it at some point and that isn't even the type of thing she cares about. It just goes to show how ingrained Maeve's worst moment is in Bayview High and its culture.

And then, 4chan stuff aside, the coverage of Simon's case always included Maeve because she was the reason Simon was not considered the victim. Like, it's not acknowledged enough but without Maeve the Bayview Four would have been under scrutiny the entire time. So now the entire country knows Maeve Rojas as the sad little sister, the pathos of the story. Maeve herself said in her extra chapter that she will never be anything more than the sick sister. The entire thing fucked with her confidence, and it still shows. She disabled the PingMe notifications after Phoebe and Knox teased her about it. What would have happened if she had enough confidence in her intuition to keep the notifications?

Which leads to Jared. Freaking Jared Jackson and his need to be better than Simon. To fool someone Simon didn't. And who is that you ask? Maeve Rojas. The only person who saw straight through Simon. Maeve almost lost her best friend because of Jared. She was mocked at school... again. Because Jared wanted to be better than Simon.

favorite female character

Maeve Rojas for many reasons

favorite male character

Nate Macauley for many of the same reasons I like Maeve

favorite book

One of Us is Next because Knox and Phoebe are too precious for this world and it was nice to see the Bayview Four somewhat happy. Also Maeve's inner monologue was something I didn't know I needed.

my favorite ship

Maeve and Luis

a character I'd die defending

Knox Myers. Have I mentioned he's too pure for this world?

a character I just can't sympathize with

Jake Riordan. Emma I can forgive. Simon I can... sort of understand. Jared went through shit. But Jake? Nope, sorry buddy.

a character I grew to love

Phoebe. I kind of thought of her as the next Addy when I first read the book, but in my reread I honestly kind of liked her a little more than Maeve since she's such a wonderful person. (But Maeve is still my favorite, sorry Lawton)

my anti otp