“‘You’re actually going to make me do this,’ I say. ‘Make you? Come on. It’s not like that.’ ‘Well, what’s it like?’ ‘It’s not like anything. I mean, I like this girl. I was just thinking you would want to help me here. Invite me to stuff when she’ll be there. I don’t know.’ ‘And what if I don’t? You’ll put the emails on Facebook? On the fucking Tumblr?’ Jesus. The creeksecrets Tumblr: ground zero for Creekwood High School gossip. The entire school would know within a day. We’re both quiet. ‘I just think we’re in a position to help each other out,’ Martin finally says.”

In the first scene of the novel, the major impetus for the plot is set into motion: Martin has screenshots of Simon’s emails to Blue, and he will reveal them if Simon doesn’t help him date Abby. In Martin’s dialogue, it is clear that although he is proposing blackmail, he does not like viewing himself as a bad guy. When Simon points out that Martin is forcing him to do something, Martin insists it’s not “like that,” and prefers to frame it that they’re just helping one another (4). Their interaction also establishes the stakes for Simon: that Martin posting the emails on this Tumblr would be equivalent to outing him to the entire school.

“I don’t even know when I figured it out. It was a bunch of little things. Like this weird dream I had once about Daniel Radcliffe. Or how I was obsessed with Passion Pit in middle school, and then I realized it wasn’t really about the music. And then, in eighth grade, I had this girlfriend. [...] And at one point, this random girl comes up to me and tells me my girlfriend is waiting in front of the gym. I was supposed to go out there and find her, and I guess we were supposed to make out. In that closed-mouth middle school way. So here’s my proudest moment: I ran and hid like a freaking preschooler in the bathroom. [...] So yeah, if I’m being completely honest with myself, I definitely knew at that point.”

Simon’s email to Blue in the first epistolary chapter explains how he first realized he was gay. Simon’s character background is built as he writes that he has been aware of his sexuality since at least middle school. This passage provides an example of Simon’s informal writing style, including his use of the adjective “freaking,” which he repeats often. There are allusions to popular culture here and throughout the novel, which serve to ground the novel in a 2010s teen world.