The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Goodman, Jessica. They Wish They Were Us. Penguin Random House, 2020. Kindle.

The novel is narrated in the present tense by the first-person narrator, Jill Newman, who is a 17-year-old high school senior. In the prologue, Jill contemplates the murder of her best friend, Shaila Arnold, back in freshman year. Graham, Shaila’s boyfriend, was arrested for the murder.

In the narrative present, Jill goes to the first day of school and attends another memorial for Shaila, just like every year. Jill and Shaila were both members of a secret society at their elite boarding school: The Players. The Players have access to all the test keys and admission secrets from all the Ivy League colleges, plus they have the best parties and the best table in the cafeteria. Jill and Shaila had joined the Players during freshman year after Adam Miller had tapped them, and they had endured a year of hazing. Now, Jill is a senior and is excited that her class is finally in command of the organization. She is particularly happy that her best friend, Nikki, has been elected Toastmaster. Jill has high hopes that the Players will be better this year, so she allows her younger brother, Jared, to pledge the society. At the first Player party of the year, Graham’s sister, Rachel, texts Jill and tells her that Graham is innocent.

Jill talks to Adam and her Player friends about Rachel. They all tell Jill that Rachel is crazy and that Jill should leave the past alone. Jill does as they ask, at first, but eventually she texts Rachel back and asks her if they can meet up. Jill gets mad when the boy Players start treating the freshmen girls terribly. She talks to Nikki, but Nikki does not seem concerned. Rachel goes to meet Jill, who gives her proof that the blood on Graham’s shirt was not Shaila’s, but his own. Jill leaves, unhappy with the idea that Graham is innocent and someone close to her is lying.

Jill goes to the “Showtime” party where freshmen are forced to read pornographic scripts. She is appalled when Nikki makes her brother Jared and the freshmen act out the scenes. Jill and Nikki get into a fight about how to handle the Players and Jill leaves the party. December rolls around and the seniors hear back from their colleges. All the Players get into their top-choice school and Jill is thrilled to have an acceptance from Brown, where Adam also goes. However, she knows she needs to win Brown’s Women in Science and Engineering scholarship in order to attend the university.

Jill goes to the “Road Rally” scavenger-hunt party with the Players. She is horrified when she sees a picture of Jared laughing at two girls being forced to kiss one another. Jill hits her breaking point and quits the Players, which no one has ever done before. At school on Monday, none of her friends talk to her and they lock her out of the Player Files where all the test answers are kept, so she fails an English test.

Jill agrees to go with Rachel to visit Graham and is convinced that Graham is innocent, especially when Graham tells Jill that Shaila was cheating on him before her murder with a mysterious older guy. Rachel convinces Jill to break into Shaila’s house and Jill finds a letter Shaila wrote to her New York friend, Kara, about an older guy she was dating. Rachel and Shaila go to visit Kara, who admits that Shaila was dating an older guy who bought her diamond earrings. However, Shaila returned the earrings and broke things off with the guy a few weeks before her murder.

Rachel and Jill theorize that Shaila was dating the handsome English teacher, Mr. Beaumont. They turn their information over to the police, who bring Mr. Beaumont in for questioning. However, they discover he has an ironclad alibi and release him. The headmaster brings Jill into his office and chastises her for making the school look back. He threatens to expose her for being a cheater if she continues to look into Shaila’s murder. Jill agrees and goes to meet Rachel and tell her that she is done with the investigation, but she remembers the night of Shaila’s murder, which was also the night of the freshmen initiation ceremony. She had been locked in a dark room and nearly raped by an older Player boy while Shaila had been forced to go with Adam to jump off Ocean Cliff. Adam claimed she jumped and they went back to the house so she could shower, and then she had left to meet Graham on the beach. Jill realizes the Players are corrupt and she wants to stop them, so she changes her mind and tells Rachel she will help her.

Adam calls Jill and she goes to his house. She finds a pair of diamond earrings in his drawer and realizes he was the one who was dating Shaila. She leaves and tells Rachel, and the two girls concoct a plan to record Adam and get a confession from him. He admits that he was dating Shaila and pushed her during an argument, though his intentions are left ambiguous. He attacks Jill and Rachel, but Nikki calls the police and they arrest Adam. Graham is let out of jail and moves in with Rachel. Jill and the other Players disband the organization and get rid of all their secret materials.