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Summary
At 2:12 PM, Rufus and Mateo bike together to Althea Park. They play Gladiator and laugh before turning to the more serious topic of how they don’t want to see each other die. In a moment of spontaneity, Rufus gives his bike to a boy playing handball and then thinks about all the things he’ll never do again, like ride his bike. Meanwhile, Peck is talking to Damien Rivas, the guy he had call the police on Rufus. They decide to track down Rufus and get revenge for beating up Peck. By 2:34 PM, it’s raining, and Mateo and Rufus get on the subway. They play a game called Traveler, where they make up stories about strangers they pass and themselves. Mateo leaves his book on the train for a stranger to find, and they leave, bumping into two girls. The two girls, Zoe and Gabriella, are on their way to make the most of Zoe’s End Day. Gabriella is her Last Friend, and she finds the book Mateo left. She reveals to Zoe that she’s been leaving graffiti all over the city to advertise Last Friend. A woman near them overhears the girls and tells them she is happy they found each other.
At 3:18 PM Mateo calls Lidia while he and Rufus are on a bus. He tells her about Rufus, and they agree to meet at the Travel Arena so the three of them can have an adventure together. Peck is making his own plans at around the same time. He gets his gang together with Damien and Kendrick. He gets out a gun to use on Rufus as revenge. To find out where Rufus is, Peck keeps checking his Instagram account. He sees all the posts Aimee made about how much she wants to see Rufus and becomes very angry. Meanwhile, Mateo and Rufus meet Lidia at the Travel Arena. They decide on the Around the World in 80 Minutes tour and enjoy the simulated adventure. When they get to the Puerto Rico experience, there is an activity available to jump from a cliff into a pool of water. Although Rufus is scared, the fact that Mateo is willing to conquer his fear makes Rufus decide to do it. The three of them hold hands and jump together. When they all come up in the water, Rufus is exhilarated and feels as if he’s cleansed himself of his anger and sadness.
Rufus tells Mateo it’s time to face another fear and go to Clint’s Graveyard, a Decker club, to dance and sing. As they head to the club, Officer Andrade, who arrested Malcolm and Tagoe, thinks about his former partner’s death. As part of an online challenge called Bangers, a Decker was attempting to live stream his suicide. Officer Andrade died while tying to stop him. Officer Andrade wants to work on getting that horrible website taken down, and he decides to let Malcolm and Tagoe go so he can focus on his real work. Meanwhile, while waiting to get into Clint’s Graveyard, Rufus gets a FaceTime alert from Malcolm who is out of jail with Tagoe. Rufus tells them to meet him at the club. He hangs up, and posts a photo of the sign for Clint’s Graveyard to his Instagram. At 5:05 PM, Peck sees the Instagram post and heads out to confront Rufus.
Analysis
When Mateo finally acquiesces to riding Rufus’s bike, it illustrates that he has found peace with the inevitability of his death. Similarly, when Rufus gives his bike to a boy at the playground, he demonstrates that he is letting go and accepting that he’s dying. Although the idea of never riding his bike again makes him sad, the act proves Rufus now understands that loss and grief are a part of life. As the boys play Gladiator at Althea Park, the game is at first emblematic of them finding joy in a childhood pleasure. However, the game also represents how life is filled with challenge and pain, and, in the case of Mateo and Rufus, there are no clear winners or losers. Fantasizing about who they could have been during a game of Traveler illustrates how the boys have come to terms with all the things they’ll never do. Even though both Rufus and Mateo have found new reasons to live through one another, they both understand that spending any part of their End Day fighting against their deaths is a waste of time.
Lives intersect again in this section, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the world and the significance of every human interaction. The interconnectedness of humanity is demonstrated when Zoe and Gabriella are the ones to find the book Mateo intentionally lefto on a subway seat. Continuing the theme, The two Last Friends are observed by Dalma, who turns out to be the founder of the app. Not only is that a powerful connection, but Gabriella is the graffiti artist who’s been tagging the city to promote Last Friend, and it was one of those pieces of graffiti that inspired Rufus to download the app. The ripple effect of these lives is significant, revealing the impact one person’s life can have on others, even if they never know it. Because of Dalma, Deckers like Mateo, Rufus, and Zoe have the chance to find Last Friends to spend their End Day with. Because of Gabriella, Rufus and possibly countless others, are inspired to download the app. The fact that they don’t get to know each other or the influences they have on one another only makes their interconnectedness more emphatic.
The importance of spending time with loved ones even when it is painful is illustrated through Rufus, Mateo, and Lidia’s time at the World Travel Arena and Officer Andrade’s reflections on his late partner. Mateo makes the decision to reach out to Lidia, knowing he’s risking her feelings because he finally understands that it’s Lidia’s choice whether or not she wants to face the pain of being with him on his End Day. Instead of spending their time together sharing memories or apologizing for anything they might have done wrong in their relationship, Mateo and Lidia simply live where they are without dwelling on Mateo’s impending death. The idea emphasized is that life is for living, and people are responsible for their own feelings. This theme is extended with the introduction of Officer Andrade, who decides to let Malcolm and Tagoe go. It’s through his memories of his deceased partner Graham that Andrade reflects that even though being with a beloved Decker when they die is traumatic, it’s better than not being with them at all. In contrast, Peck’s fixation on revenge reveals his toxic priorities about life and death and ominously foreshadows the climax of the novel.
