Addie is blocked from entering Caseham High School by Kenzie and Hudson on the first day back.

Eve runs into a drunk Art Tuttle at a grocery store; he grabs her arm and warns her that Addie is a troubled girl.

Nate praises Addie's poem after class and invites her to join the school's poetry magazine, Reflections.

Kenzie breaks into Addie's gym locker and soaks her clothes, forcing Addie to wear smelly gym clothes to class.

Addie cheats on Eve's math midterm by copying answers from another student's paper out of desperation.

Eve catches Addie cheating and tells Addie she will be taken to the principal's office the following morning.

Nate seduces Eve to persuade her to give Addie a zero on the midterm instead of reporting her to the principal.

Nate reveals to Addie that he convinced Eve to go easy on her; Addie hugs him and they share their first kiss.

Eve sees Addie's silhouette lurking in the bushes outside the Bennett home after a dinner party.

Eve discovers Nate passionately kissing Addie when she looks through the window of his classroom.

Eve confronts Nate at home, demands a divorce and the house, and reveals she photographed him kissing Addie.

Addie breaks into Eve's house intending to convince Eve to allow her and Nate to be together.

Addie strikes Eve on the head with a frying pan when Eve threatens to go to the principal about the relationship.

Nate arrives at the house, deletes the photo from Eve's phone, and strangles Eve after she regains consciousness.

Nate and Addie drive Eve's wrapped body to an abandoned pumpkin patch and begin digging a grave.

The Teacher follows Eve Bennett, a math teacher unhappy in her marriage, and Addie Severson, a student ostracized after a scandal involving a former teacher. Eve's husband Nate, a charming English teacher, singles out Addie for praise and slowly grooms her into a secret relationship. When Eve catches Nate kissing Addie and confronts him with a photograph, the situation spirals into violence. Addie breaks into Eve's home and strikes her with a frying pan, and Nate finishes the job by strangling Eve before the two bury her body. The pool covers the full arc from the fractured opening of the school year through the crime that sets the novel's thriller machinery in motion.

The core betrayal, manipulation, and murder at the heart of the story.

Addie's father dies after she shoves him down the stairs to protect Hudson; they flee and allow the death to look like an accident.

Nate and Addie bond over Edgar Allan Poe in their first English class, and Nate winks at Addie after she names 'Annabel Lee' as her favorite poem.

Eve slips into shoe store Simon's Shoes at closing time and begins an ongoing secret affair with the clerk, Jay.

Addie attends the first Reflections meeting and is questioned about Mr. Tuttle by editor Lotus, who refuses to believe nothing happened.

Kenzie knocks Addie's lunch tray over in the cafeteria and mocks her in front of other students.

Nate submits Addie's poem to the Massachusetts poetry contest, claiming hers is the only one worthy despite Lotus's objections.

Nate gives Addie a pass to leave school early after noticing she is struggling following Kenzie's attack on her clothes.

Addie steals Kenzie's house keys from her backpack and later breaks into Kenzie's bedroom, breaking a ceramic bird on the desk.

Nate and Addie begin secretly meeting in the school's abandoned darkroom, at first only kissing and talking about poetry.

The Massachusetts poetry award goes to Lotus instead of Addie; Nate lies to Addie about why he did not submit her poem.

Nate and Addie have sex for the first time in the school's abandoned darkroom.

Nate parks Eve's car inside the commuter rail station lot to make it appear that Eve left town voluntarily.

Detective Sprague visits Addie's home and questions her about Eve's disappearance while Addie's mother slowly undermines her alibi.

Nate finds a gift-wrapped package on his doorstep containing a pair of Eve's dirty shoes, realizing someone is taunting him with imagery from 'The Raven.'

Addie learns that Hudson's football teammates call him Jay and that he works part-time at Simon's Shoes, revealing his true identity.

This pool traces the hidden histories and supporting story beats that give the main plot its depth. It begins with the traumatic secret Addie shares with Hudson and moves through the quieter moments that establish Nate's predatory pattern: his early bonding with Addie over poetry, his affair with Eve's lover Jay, and the escalating social cruelty Addie endures. As the investigation into Eve's disappearance unfolds, Nate's plan to blame Addie begins to crack — culminating in the shocking epilogue revelation that Jay, Eve's secret lover, is Hudson Jankowski, Addie's childhood best friend.

The hidden histories and supporting beats beneath the main story.

Mr. Tuttle's sudden resignation the previous year has left Addie ostracized by teachers and students at Caseham High School.

Eve gives Art Tuttle a ride home after his drunken warning at the grocery store, unable to dismiss what he said about Addie.

Nate approaches Addie in a restaurant bathroom and assigns her a revenge letter to her bullies as a personal makeup assignment.

Kenzie fills Addie's locker with shaving cream; Hudson tries to help clean it up but Addie sends him away.

Eve and Nate attend dinner at a local Italian restaurant where Eve warns Nate to be careful around Addie.

Addie goes to the principal's office and denies being outside the Bennett house, following Nate's instructions to protect him.

Shelby tells Eve that Addie was likely outside the Bennett home to see Nate, not to stalk Eve.

Jay tells Eve she cannot go to the principal about Nate and Addie and should instead use the photo to force a divorce.

Nate tells Addie that if Eve were to die, they could stay together and he could keep his job.

Nate abandons Addie at the burial site on the pretense of retrieving Eve's purse from the car.

Addie buries Eve alone under a thin layer of dirt and leaves before walking to the road and calling Hudson to pick her up.

Nate reports Eve missing to the police and names Addie when the detective asks who might want to harm Eve.

Kenzie arrives at Addie's door and reveals that Nate seduced her at fourteen and wrote Addie the exact same love poem he gave Kenzie.

Eve wakes up inside the grave and digs herself out, realizing Addie covered her with leaves rather than packed dirt.

Eve and Jay bury Nate alive in the grave; as she shovels dirt, Eve recalls that Nate seduced her at fifteen using the same poem he gave Addie and Kenzie.

This pool tracks the key decisions and discoveries that shift the balance of power throughout the novel. It opens with the damage already done by Mr. Tuttle's scandal and follows each pivotal turning point: Eve being warned off Addie, Nate planting the seeds of murder in Addie's mind, and Addie being abandoned in the dark to bury Eve alone. The most explosive revelations come in quick succession — Kenzie and Addie expose Nate to police, Eve rises from her own grave, and the novel closes with Eve and Jay burying Nate alive while Eve finally understands she has been his victim since she was fifteen years old.