One of Us Is Lying: Chapter 26–Epilogue

by Karen M. McManus
Simon Kelleher publishes gossip about his classmates online. When he unexpectedly dies during detention, the four students who were in the room with him become prime suspects in his murder.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–4, Chapters 5–9, Chapters 10–18, Chapters 19–25, Chapter 26–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. remand
    place someone into legal custody or prison
    First off, Mrs. Macauley, I’m sorry about your son’s arrest. I understand he’s been remanded to a juvenile detention center instead of an adult facility, which is good news.
  2. impartial
    free from undue bias or preconceived opinions
    It’s the first time he’s dropped his impartial lawyer mask and shown some emotion, and the horror on his face terrifies me.
  3. disbar
    expel from the practice of law by official action
    “Stop right there, Bronwyn. If I’m going to represent Nate, I can’t speak with other represented people in this case. It could get me disbarred and put you at risk of implication. In fact, I need you and your mother to leave so I can work out some details with Mrs. Macauley.”
  4. lacquer
    coat with varnish
    She presses a napkin to her overly plumped lips, and I take in her stiff blond hair, red lacquered nails, and the skintight dress she put on for a typical Monday.
  5. ecstatic
    feeling great rapture or delight
    “Justin and I are ecstatically happy.”
  6. naive
    marked by or showing unaffected simplicity
    While I realize that was ridiculously naïve, I still think it deserves more than a brush-off.
  7. haunch
    the upper thigh and back of the hip in human beings
    Addy sits back on her haunches with a frustrated noise.
  8. jut
    extend out or project in space
    Addy locks her hands on her hips and juts her chin in outrage.
  9. clinical
    detached or unemotional
    “Let’s go back to what we know,” Bronwyn says. Her voice is almost clinical, but her face is flushed brick red.
  10. faux
    not genuine or real
    “That’s fine,” he says as he pulls across the street from Janae’s faux-Tudor house.
  11. raspy
    unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound
    “Oh my God,” she says in a thick, raspy voice.
  12. manifesto
    a public declaration of intentions
    “Simon’s manifesto,” she says with a sour twist of her mouth. “It’s supposed to be sent to the police a year from now, after all your lives are completely screwed. So everyone would know he pulled it off.”
  13. bile
    a digestive juice secreted by the liver
    “Why?” I ask, bile rising in my throat. “How did Simon get to this point?”
  14. valedictorian
    the student with the best grades
    She practically had valedictorian sewn up anyway, but she made it impossible for him to catch up.
  15. blacklist
    add to a group to be boycotted, banished, or avoided
    Cooper got Simon blacklisted from Vanessa’s after-prom party.
  16. gloat
    dwell on with satisfaction
    So he did it, and he was gloating about it at the pool last summer, saying how easy it was and how he’d mess with homecoming too.
  17. abet
    assist or encourage, usually in some wrongdoing
    “I’m, like, aiding and abetting, right? Or obstructing justice? I could wind up in jail..."
  18. hoax
    something intended to deceive
    This whole thing was a hoax that’s been blown wide open.
  19. fawn
    try to gain favor through flattery or deferential behavior
    Possibly only alive because of Janae, who got a busted jaw for her trouble, and Cooper, who’s suddenly some kind of superhero the media’s fawning over.
  20. perverse
    marked by a disposition to oppose and contradict
    “I just want to go home and sleep.” I’m still not looking at Bronwyn, but out of the corner of my eye I can see her face fall, and for some reason that’s perversely satisfying. I’m disappointing her right on schedule.
  21. obstruction
    something immaterial that stands in the way
    So far he’s being charged with assault, obstruction of justice, evidence tampering, and a whole bunch of other things I can’t keep track of.
  22. reconcile
    bring into consonance or accord
    I still can’t reconcile the guy I pulled off Addy with the kid who’d been my friend since ninth grade.
  23. undue
    beyond normal limits
    His lawyer’s talking about undue influence from Simon, and maybe that explains it.
  24. spinster
    an elderly unmarried woman
    I don’t agree with my mother that TJ was my last, best hope to avoid premature spinsterhood.
  25. covet
    wish, long, or crave for
    I’ve been coveting Ashton’s hair all along.
  26. ordeal
    a severe or trying experience
    “I would love your take on everything. Can you spare a few minutes to tell us what this ordeal has been like for you, and how you feel now that it’s over?”
  27. stint
    an unbroken period of time during which you do something
    The only time Nate spoke to me at any length after he got home, he said his mother had convinced his father to try a stint at rehab.
  28. indifference
    the trait of remaining calm and seeming not to care
    And while I’m not fazed by external obstacles thrown my way—Disapproving parents? No problem! Jail time? I’ll get you out!—his indifference makes me wilt.
  29. aggrieve
    cause to feel distress
    I think a lot about Simon and about what the media called his “aggrieved entitlement”—the belief he was owed something he didn’t get, and everyone should pay because of it.
  30. residual
    relating to or indicating a remainder
    It’s probably due to residual notoriety, although I like to think the audition video I submitted of “Variations on the Canon” helped.
  31. unrepentant
    stubbornly persistent in wrongdoing
    “Cooper finally learned how to use iMovie, and now there’s no stopping him. Trust me. I have tried.” Cooper grins unrepentantly and puts his phone away, slipping his hand into Kris’s.
  32. avert
    prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
    I concentrate on breathing and press my hands against the thorns, willing the mild pain to distract me. Okay. There we go. Tears receding. Disaster averted.
  33. unnerve
    disturb the composure of
    I finally look up, and it’s every bit as unnerving as I thought it would be.
  34. fickle
    marked by erratic changeableness in affections
    My cheeks burn, and the corners of my mouth keep trying to turn upward. My face is a fickle traitor.
  35. idle
    run disconnected
    Dad’s BMW idles directly behind us, and Mom lowers the passenger window to peer outside.
Created on Mon Jul 08 10:03:43 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Jul 11 08:28:57 EDT 2019)

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