The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Oseman, Alice. Solitaire. HarperCollins. 2014. Print.

The novel is narrated by Tori Spring, the 16-year-old main character of the novel, in first-person present. Tori comes back to school after winter break and feels just as depressed as she always does. However, when she goes to her locker, she finds a pink post-it note with an arrow on it. She follows the directions to an old computer room. Inside the room, she finds a final message: a link to a blog. Suddenly, a boy named Michael Holden barges in and says he has been looking for Tori on behalf of another boy. They open the blog together, but there are no posts. Tori leaves and goes to the meeting in the common room. Mr. Kent starts to speak, but suddenly Star Wars music starts playing and then a slideshow with Star Wars characters begins, followed by another link to the blog. Mr. Kent leaves and Tori runs into her best friend from elementary school, Lucas Ryan, who had asked Michael to help him find Tori. Both boys had recently transferred to Higgs for their sixth form years.

Tori goes home and blogs, then talks to her best friend, Becky on the phone, but all Becky wants to do is talk about her boyfriend, Jack. Tori talks to her brother, Charlie, who went to school with Lucas and Michael. Charlie warns her that Michael is weird and probably responsible for the pranks. Later that week, Tori goes to Pizza Express with her friends, and she is surprised that Becky has invited Lucas to join. Even more surprising, Michael arrives and tells Tori he has something important to tell her. However, he says he cannot remember what it was. He walks her home and then tells her he remembers giving her a tour of Truham Grammar School while she was a sophomore. He asks her if they can be friends, but she says no.

All through the week, the prankster continues his work at the school. Lucas keeps trying to talk to Tori, but she finds herself annoyed with him and just wants to find Michael. The Head Girl, Zelda, enlists Tori to help search for the Prankster early in the morning. Tori gets assigned to the IT suites, so she looks through the computer labs. Someone locks her inside one of the rooms. A message from Solitaire appears on the screen, promising not to hurt anyone. Tori panics and calls Michael, who appears and unlocks the door for Tori. They check the Solitaire blog and discover that a meeting is planned for two Saturdays. Tori tells the prefects that she did not see anything unusual.

Tori goes to Becky’s costume party on Friday night dressed as Wednesday Addams, but no one gets her costume besides Michael. They go upstairs and watch Beauty and the Beast together. In the middle of the night, Tori’s brother Oliver calls and tells her that their brother Charlie is in trouble. Tori rushes home because Charlie has mental health issues, and their parents are out of town. She discovers that her brother has self-harmed himself again. She gets him cleaned up and in bed, then goes to her room and cries.

Michael comes over the next day and hangs out with Tori all day. On Sunday, Tori walks to Michael’s house and spends the whole day with him. When Michael walks her home, he asks if they are friends yet, but this upsets Tori. They get into a fight, and Tori goes inside feeling terrible.

At school that week, the prankster continues wreaking havoc on Higgs. Tori calls Michael and they both apologize to one another and make plans to go to the Solitaire party on Saturday night. At school the next day, Lucas asks Tori if she wants to hang out on Saturday morning, and she tells him yes. After class, she goes to Charlie’s school and runs into her friends Michael, Nick, Lucas, and Becky outside. They go inside and find Charlie getting into a fight with Becky’s boyfriend, Ben, who punches Charlie. Nick breaks up the fight, and Tori takes Charlie home.

Tori stays in bed Saturday and ditches Lucas. However, she goes out to meet Michael and go to the Solitaire house party. At the party, Tori and Michael dance together. Solitaire makes a post about what Ben did to Charlie and a group of kids beat Ben up. Tori is disgusted and runs home.

Tori goes back to school and tries to reconnect with Lucas, but he ignores her. The prankster continues his chaos, and Tori realizes that all the pranks are related to her in some type of way. Tori goes to a concert with Nick and Charlie. She gets separated from them, and then Solitaire takes over the stage and announces a big surprise is coming on Friday. Then, Solitaire sets off fireworks. Tori almost gets hit by one, but then Michael appears and helps her jump into the river to escape.

Tori spends the week trying to figure out what Solitaire is up to. On Thursday, school gets cancelled halfway through because of a snowstorm. Tori and Michael have a snowball fight. Then, Tori hears Michael talking to Lucas and accusing him of being responsible for Solitaire. Lucas admits to Tori that he started Solitaire to make her happy because he thought he was in love with her. However, he reveals that now someone else is running Solitaire and they plan to do something terrible the next morning.

Tori goes to school early on Friday and finds her classmates Aaron and Evelyn attempting to light the school on fire. Lucas tries to stop them, but they succeed. Michael arrives, but then he and Tori get trapped in the burning building. They get separated, but then they find one another again. They kiss, and he tells Tori he loves her. In the end, Tori is driven to the hospital with Michael and her friends, who she feels grateful for.