The Summer Pact

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of death, death by suicide, and racism.

Hannah Davis meets her three best friends—Summer MacFarland, Lainey Lawson, and Tyson Bishop—in their first year of college at the University of Virginia. Tyson is watching a ball game while the others study nearby. Summer begins a conversation with Tyson, and soon the others are drawn in. As they discuss where they are from and their studies, Hannah reflects that, more than a career, she wants to be married and have kids. She wonders what her role is in their foursome but is glad to have such good friends.

As they prepare to graduate, Summer is anxious because she wants to go to medical school but has not been accepted to Harvard. She is worried about an exam in a difficult class. Hannah, Lainey, and Tyson go to a party, and the next morning, Hannah receives a frantic text from Summer but feels too hungover to respond. An hour later, Hannah goes to Summer’s room and finds that Summer has hanged herself from the ceiling fan. Hannah feels guilty and ashamed that she waited to respond to Summer’s text. Gossip circulates that Summer was caught cheating on her final exam.