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THE PERFECTIONISTS (SERIES)

“In Beacon, it’s not enough to be good; you have to be the best. With perfection comes pressure. Students here are some of the best in the country, and sometimes, they have to let off a little steam. What five girls don’t know, though, is that steam can scald just as badly as an open flame. And someone’s about to get burned” (Book 1, 1).

THE SETUP

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In their film studies class, Caitlin, Parker, Julie, Ava, and Mackenzie are grouped to discuss Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. 

 

During their discussion, each of the girls say who they would choose to get vengeance on.

 

  • Caitlin would want to kill Nolan Hotchkiss (the most powerful, wealthy, charming, and arrogant boy in school) by the untraceable cyanide (like they’ve learned about in class).

 

  • Julie would want Parker’s dad (who’s in prison for beating Parker) to get stabbed by an inmate.

 

  • Parker would want Ashley (Julie’s copy-cat) to trip in the shower.

 

  • Ava would want her evil stepmother (Leslie) to drunkenly fall off a balcony.

 

  • Mac would want her “best friend” (Claire) to get killed in a hit-and-run.


 

Because they all have beef with Nolan, they make a plan to give him a taste of his own medicine. Even though they don’t plan to go as far as killing him, they plan to go to his upcoming party and sneak oxycontin in his drink to knock him out (since Caitlin has a prescription for her ankle injury). From there, they plan to sharpie mean words on his face and post pictures of him looking like a fool.

 

After all:

 

  • Caitlin’s younger brother committed suicide after being brutally bullied by Nolan.“The worst part of it was that Caitlin hadn’t even seen it happening… and they went to the same school. She’d been too busy with soccer and Josh to worry. Taylor never came to her, either. He never complained during family dinners or on weekends. He just… endured it, until he broke” (Book 1, 34).

 

  • Parker’s father brutally hit her after she came home high (after Nolan, her close friend at the time, gave her oxycontin, his drug of choice). This attack left her once beautiful face “damaged” with scars (which she’s self-conscious about). She got blamed by her mother for upsetting her father, lost motivation to try hard at school, began avoiding social gatherings, and regularly suffered from panic attacks, blurred vision, and migraines. Nolan never apologized for the incident (and barely even looked at her afterwards). Julie took Parker’s place as being the new “It Girl”, but because she remained incredibly loyal to Parker, she detests Nolan for what he did to Parker. "Julie had her own demons to battle; she just wore her scars on the inside” (Book 1, 16).

 

  • Ava is stunningly gorgeous. Nolan scouted her out for her beauty, but once Ava realized that he was cheating on her, she broke up with him. As payback, Nolan spread rumors that she slept with teachers to get her grades up. 

 

  • Mac was swept off her feet when Nolan asked her out (especially after her heart got broken by Claire when she started to date her long-standing crush, Blake). After a couple dates with Nolan, he asked her to send nudes (which she unhesitantly sent over). Even though she was mostly hidden behind a cello, she still felt disgusted when she found out that she was just part of a sick bet.


 

The girls execute this plan, even taking the extra step of taking turns spitting in his drink before Ava hands it to him and lures him upstairs. However, it’s later discovered that someone finished him off with cyanide, and the girls look awfully suspicious for his death since:

 

  • Eyewitnesses at Nolan’s party reported Ava leading Nolan upstairs.

 

  • The girls’ handwriting samples match up to what they sharpied on Nolan’s face.

 

  • The IP address that they used to post pictures of Nolan came from a cafe that one of the girls was seen at.

EXTRA DRAMA​

 

  • CAITLIN 

 

Caitlin is the star of the girl’s soccer team, and her boyfriend (Josh Friday) is the star of the boy’s soccer team. As she realizes that she has nothing in common with Josh besides soccer, she develops feelings for his sweet, sentimental, nerdy younger brother (Jeremy), who was best friends with Taylor. While Josh is shallow and avoids uncomfortable conversations, Jeremy notices the smallest details about Caitlin and seems to truly understand her. Some people have a hard time accepting her switch in romantic partners (including her gay mothers, who adopted Caitlin and her brother from South Korea and should have “acceptance” as their thing).

 

Jeremy and Caitlin have some conflict (where he’s disappointed that Caitlin cancels the surprise date he planned of going to a One Direction concert since she forgot she has a soccer event, he doesn’t click with her athlete friends, and he doesn’t like partying). But in the end, he’s found in the stands, rooting for Caitlin, fully accepting all of who she is and what she loves.


 

  • JULIE 

 

Julie used to live in California, but after her father left and her mother’s mental health declined (until she became a mean crazy cat lady who hoards trash), she and her mother got evicted. After they moved to Beacon Heights, Julie refused to have people over (so that no one would know about her dirty house with her crazy mother). 

 

Even after Ashley reveals this secret in Beacon (and bullies Julie over it), the other girls from the film studies group stuck by Julie’s side: “All [Ava] could say was, ‘I don’t care where you live or what your situation is. I’m glad we’ve become friends” (Book 1, 315).

 

“Mac felt terrible for Julie. Before she’d gotten to know her in film studies, she’d always admired her from afar -- Julie was this glowing, friendly, beautiful girl who always wore the perfect clothes and said the perfect thing. It was amazing that the entire time she’d been hanging on by such a thread and concealing such an enormous secret” (Book 2, 157). 

 

The Australian guy (Carson) who flirted with Julie before the reveal also continued to want to date her: “Maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t damaged goods after all. Maybe she was ok -- someone worth caring for. Someone worth loving, even” (Book 2, 31).

 

However, Julie never forgave herself for not offering to take Parker back to her house (instead of dropping her off at Parker’s house) the night Parker’s dad attacked her (in fear of willingly revealing her secret).


 

  • PARKER 

 

Julie recommended Parker to see her therapist (Elliott Fielder, who Julie started seeing about her fears of becoming mentally ill like her mother one day). Parker agrees to see him, and he comforts her with useful advice.

 

“All of us are damaged in our own ways. It’s just that most people call it ‘experience’” (Book 1, 132). 

 

“Stop shortchanging yourself, Fielder had told her in their last session. People don’t automatically look at you and see a freak. Smile every once in a while. You’ll be surprised who smiles back. Okay, it was a little Walt Disney--It’s-a-Small-World happy, but maybe she should try it” (Book 2, 218).

 

But once Parker realizes that he’s been stalking her, she loses trust in him (even though he claims he was just trying to “gather more information about her case”). She regains this trust when Elliot explains that Parker reminds him of his mentally ill mother growing up (who would disappear for periods of time until eventually, she never came back at all).


 

  • AVA 

 

Ava’s boyfriend, Alex, stuck with Ava despite the rumors that Nolan spread about her. Alex made Ava feel truly loved and valued.

 

When she gets a bad grade on her film studies paper, her teacher (Mr. Granger) agrees to discuss it with her at his house (which is two houses down from Alex’s house). There, Granger hits on Ava, and she finds evidence on his phone that he’s fooled around with other female students (and that Nolan was blackmailing him about it). Ava gets out as soon as possible and confides in Alex, who sends Granger a death threat to stay away from Ava.

 

Later, Ava and the rest of her film studies group realize that Granger overheard their group discussion and could be trying to pin Nolan’s murder on them. They break into Granger’s house to look for evidence and get seen by Alex when they leave. 

 

After Alex reports this encounter to the police and Granger turns up dead later that night, the police end up arresting Alex (since after all, he once beat up his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend, which was secretly because that new boyfriend raped her). This misunderstanding later gets cleared, and he and Ava become as strong as ever. 

 

At Granger’s funeral, the priest compares Granger to Jesus (since they were both teachers). Ava’s thoughts in response to this is NOT what you would want someone to think at your funeral: “Lucas Granger was many things, but Christlike certainly wasn’t one of them” (Book 2, 102). 


 

  • MACKENZIE

 

Mac has always dreamed of getting into Julliard. Her mother has an inside connection to the admissions board, but Mac insists on auditioning fairly: “The only thing worse than not getting into Julliard, she thought, was getting in dishonestly” (Book 1, 136).

 

But when Julliard auditions draw near, Claire tries to sabotage Mac’s audition (since it’s usually unlikely for two cellists from the same school to get in). She does this by convincing Blake to distract Mac (by pretending like he’s always had feelings for Mac and telling her to play the song that Claire plans to play). Then, since Claire’s audition was right before Mac’s, Mac becomes shocked that Claire chose the same song. To stand out, Mac spontaneously decides to play a different song that she didn’t practice for.

 

Mac ends up making it to Julliard, but so does Claire. Mac’s mother excitedly exclaims that the two of them could room together, but Mac dreads the thought of seeing her back-stabbling ex-best-friend at her dream school.

 

Blake later dumps Claire for real and asks Mac if he would have any chance with her, but Mac doesn’t think she could ever trust him again (since he did follow through with Claire’s whole plan).


At introductory Julliard gatherings, Mac goes out of her way to flirt with a pianist named Oliver (as a competition to Claire, even though Mac still isn’t over Blake): “[Mac] felt the tiniest pang. She was acting crazy. She didn’t kiss boys in public. She didn’t act rudely to people -- even if they were ex-friends. Who was she turning into?... What was wrong with her? Was it because she’d made Claire leave? Was it because she’d dragged an innocent guy into her stupid little game? Was it because she felt as heartless as Claire?” (Book 2, 130-133).

WHO WAS THE KILLER?

 

The killer is… Julie! The night that Julie dropped Parker off at her house while she was still high from Oxy, her father’s attack ended up killing her. Julie developed a split personality disorder as a way of dealing with the trauma:

 

“Julie didn’t help Parker the night Parker’s father killed her. My guess is that she assumed Parker’s responsibility soon after Parker was killed because she couldn’t handle the guilt. Becoming Parker was a way of keeping her alive -- and Parker served as an outlet for the angrier parts of Julie’s personality… Julie couldn’t break the rules, because she was protecting her own secrets -- about her mother, her house. So she needed to keep a very pristine exterior. She couldn’t skip school or mouth off or otherwise step outside the lines. Everyone needs to let off steam, but Perfect Julie could never allow herself to do such a thing. She had too much at stake. Parker, on the other hand, was free to do and say whatever she wanted. Including get her revenge on people who hurt her or those she is close to” (Book 2, 309).

 

  • Julie snuck cyanide in Noah’s drink while it was her turn to spit into the cup.

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  • Julie killed Granger when she realized he had a file from the school’s grief counselor about her condition.

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  • Julie paid some guy from Craigslist to make arrangements to have Parker’s dad killed in prison.

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  • Julie killed Ashley when she was triggered by her Instagram post that showed Animal Control taking away her mom’s cats.

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  • Julie pushed Leslie off the balcony after witnessing her abuse Ava (who triggered flashbacks of Parker’s dad abusing Parker).

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  • Julie attempted to kill Claire after she was triggered by Claire’s Instagram post that showed Mac making out with Oliver (with the caption that Mac was a slut).

 

It makes sense that “Parker” was Julie’s personality for the duration of the books since:

 

  • Parker had gaps in memory, where she would wake up in random places.

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  • Parker was always with Julie (and even lived at her house after the incident with her dad).

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  • Elliot Fielder would mix up “Parker” and “Julie” when answering phone calls.

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  • Parker was the only one the police psychologist didn’t interview.

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  • The police asked “Parker who?” when Julie said that her alibi during the timeframe of Ashley’s death was hanging out with Parker.

IS MURDER THE ANSWER?

 

Even though each of the girls had their own motives for wanting certain people dead, it's illustrated how murder is NOT the answer.
 

  • After Ava’s stepmother (Leslie) gets pushed off a balcony, Ava’s dad realizes for himself how evil Leslie was (especially to Ava). Ava’s relationship with her dad (and her freedom from Leslie) only needed a heart-to-heart conversation (so Leslie’s death wasn’t necessary): “It was a horrible thought, but it was true: Now that they were free of Leslie -- or at least, the distrust she’d created in their family - Ava had her father back. But just because she’d wished for it didn’t mean it should have to have happened that way. Just because someone was a jerk… or a child-beater… or a bitch… that didn’t mean they deserved to die” (Book 2, 321).

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  • When Mac realizes that Claire’s in danger, she saves Claire’s life (despite all of Claire’s nasty remarks to her beforehand). During the rescue, Claire badly damages her hand (ending her career as a musician). This causes Claire to admit that Julliard wasn’t even her dream after all. Her pride was just pushing her to beat Mac. Claire even admits that Blake had loved Mac all along.

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