chapter 6

Cassette 2: Side B

At Monet's, Clay orders coffee and sits down. At the end of each tape, he feels some relief, but also some fear.

He's relieved not to hear anything bad about himself but afraid to find out what Hannah will say he did to hurt her.

Bracing himself, Clay hits play. At first the volume is so low that he thinks something's wrong with the tape. But it turns out Hannah is just whispering.

She says this tape is for Tyler Down, who she calls a "Peeping Tom" (6.57).

Hannah says that she's actually recording this tape outside Tyler's window. She wants to understand what he gets out of looking in people's windows.

Tyler isn't home yet, but Hannah can see lots of camera equipment in his room.

Tyler is the student life photographer for the school yearbook. He recently won a contest for a funny picture of a dog peeing at night. Clay knows that Tyler even has night vision lenses.

Hannah continues: Tyler is home now but he hasn't come into his room yet. So while she waits, she tells his story.

One week when Hannah's parents were out of town, Hannah went out with a guy. He didn't come into the house, thoughWhen she went into her bedroom, she thought she heard the click of a camera.

She wasn't quite sure, so she changed into her pajamas (under the covers just in case). She decided to just pretend the peeper wasn't there.

As he's listening to the story, Clay thinks Hannah should have called the police.

Back to the tape: Hannah says she's cutting Tyler's story short because he's in his room now. She promises to pick it up later.

Her voice is getting louder, and Clay wonders if she wants Tyler to hear her.

She describes Tyler taking off his shoes and socks. But that's where she stops. She says she isn't here to watch Tyler or to get revenge on him.

As long as everybody passes the tapes on, nobody but those thirteen people will know Tyler's secret.

She says she isn't doing this for herself. "So why? Why am I here?" (6.145).

Clay is desperate for the answer to that exact question.

Hannah says that the next day at school she told a girl what had happened. The girl wasn't a friend of Hannah's but she was very friendly and known for being a good listener.

This girl turned out to be trouble. She actually thought it was hot to have a Peeping Tom watch her. She told Hannah to be sure to let her know if he came back.

Hannah asked her if she wanted to come over that night to help her catch the guy, and the girl agreed immediately.

They hung out in Hannah's house until it got dark, then they went to her bedroom.

First they sat on Hannah's bed and gossiped, waiting. When they heard the clicking sound, the girl looked totally shocked. Then she started having fun with it.

She asked Hannah to give her a back rub and as Hannah did this, the camera was clicking away.

The girl said she wanted to catch the guy and whispered a plan to Hannah. She would start counting, and when she got to three they would both go to the window and catch the peeper.

Then the girl got up and went to Hannah's dresser. She made a comment that he'd found several sex toys in Hannah's drawer. Then she started counting, and when she got to three Hannah raised the blind.

The peeper took off, and Hannah didn't see his face, just how tall he was and what his hair looked like.

The next day, Hannah asked everybody at school where they had been the night before.

She says that Tyler's reaction showed he was guilty. He said he didn't go anywhere, then he got all nervous and sweaty and red in the face. He never came back to her house again.

After that, Hannah closed her blinds all the way, every night. She never watched the stars or the weather from her bedroom window again. Tyler had taken away the one safe place she had.

Hannah says that the next tape will reveal the girl who helped her catch Tyler.

Cassette 3: Side A

This tape is for Courtney Crimson (the mystery girl in the last tape).

Hannah says that Courtney looks perfect on the outside and acts like she loves everybody. But the truth is, it's all just an act.

Courtney is in these tapes because Hannah wants her to see that her fakeness affects other people.

Clay is surprised. Courtney's niceness always seemed real enough to him.

On the tape, Hannah explains: she doesn't hate Courtney. In fact, for a while she thought she and Courtney were actually friends.

But soon enough, she realized that Courtney was just trying to make Hannah into another one of her groupies, someone who would help her keep up her perfect image.

The day after Courtney came to Hannah's house, the two girls saw each other in class. They laughed and talked, but then Courtney just left the classroom without saying goodbye.

Hannah thought that what happened at her house had formed a bond between them, and that they would be good friends now. When Courtney didn't say goodbye, Hannah realized that wasn't the case.

But then there was a party. Courtney needed Hannah and pretended to be her friend again.

In the present day, Clay needs a break. He turns off the tape, leaves Monet's, and gets on the bus again.

Back to the tape: Courtney came back into Hannah's life when she needed a ride to a party.

She said she wanted Hannah to go with her so they could hang out, and Hannah gave her the benefit of the doubt. But she didn't really trust Courtney.

Clay, meanwhile, is heading toward Tyler's house, another star on Hannah's map. He doesn't know why he's following all her orders, but he continues.

He figures it's a way of honoring Hannah's last wishes.

Hannah continues the story: as soon as they got to the party, Courtney said she and Hannah should split up. She told Hannah to be sure to wait for her, though, because she needed Hannah to drive her home.

Hannah wasn't surprised or disappointed. She knew this would happen.

As Clay listens to the tape, the bus turns onto Courtney's street and past her house.

Through the headphones, Clay hears a girl's voice calling his name. He turns off the tape.

He turns and sees Skye Miller sitting on the bus. He used to have a crush on her in eighth grade. She's a really pretty girl, but for the past few years she's been wearing baggy clothes, like she's hiding. She's also been pretty withdrawn.

She asks Clay if he missed his stop. Clay shakes his head – he can't even imagine going home right now.

Clay asks where she's going, but she doesn't tell him. Why does she try so hard to push others away?

He wonders if he should stay on the bus and try to talk to her. But she says she'll see him the next day, and he decides that's the end of their conversation.

When he gets off the bus, he can see Skye with her head against the window and her eyes closed.

He walks toward Tyler's house. When he gets there, he sees that Tyler's bedroom window is broken and taped up with duct tape.

Clay hears somebody ask him if he wants a rock. It's Marcus Cooley, a guy from school.

Marcus gives Clay a rock. He says Clay will "feel better" (7.159) if he throws a rock at Tyler's window.

Clay guesses that Marcus is on the tapes, and sure enough, he is.

Marcus says that two other people from the tapes have come out and thrown rocks at Tyler's window. He knows because he lives a couple houses down, on the other side of the street.

Alex was the first one to come, and it was his idea to break Tyler's window.

Clay feels like telling Marcus he's going to throw the rock at his window. Instead, he calls Marcus a "dick" (7.176), and asks him what the difference is between Tyler and the other people on the list, including him and Marcus.

Marcus says that Tyler is a "Peeping Tom" (7.181) and a "freak" (7.181).

He also says that he (Marcus) shouldn't be on the tapes and that Hannah was just using this all as an excuse to kill herself.

Clay tells Marcus to go away, and then he leaves. He continues listening to Courtney Crimson's tape.

Hannah says that at the party that night, she saw her first fight – two guys beating the heck out of each other while a crowd egged them on.

It disgusted Hannah and she felt like throwing up. She couldn't find an empty bathroom, though, so she decided to leave the party.

But at the gate, she saw Tyler coming into the party. He tried to hide his camera when he saw her.

Hannah started asking him about it, but another guy came up to her.

He said that Courtney told him to come talk to her because she's "fun to hang out with" (7.221).

She wasn't mad at Courtney now – the guy Courtney sent over was actually pretty cute.

They talked for a while, but then the guy said he needed to tell Hannah a secret:

Courtney didn't really send him over. He came over on his own because Courtney told him and the other guys that Hannah kept sex toys in her dresser.

Hannah started to get really upset. She took Tyler by the hand and said she wanted him to take a picture of her with Courtney.

She figured the last thing Courtney wanted was a photo of the two of them together – proof that they were tied together socially.

Sure enough, Courtney said no. But Hannah put her arm around Courtney and told her that she could borrow the toys from her dresser anytime she wanted, letting Courtney know that she knew what Courtney told everybody.

Tyler snapped the shot.

Hannah said she was leaving. Courtney begged her not to go – she needed her for the ride home.

Tyler asked Hannah for a ride home. She gave him one, but didn't talk to him.

After that, she drove around, deciding she couldn't stand this town anymore.