Acceptance/Rejection
The episode begins with Clay narrating a dystopian future during a dream where the Earth has been taken over by an alien army. Some of the main group including Ani appear as soldiers, with Bryce appearing as a half-cyborg. He tells Clay that he should fall back and that they can fight another day.
Later that day, Tony and Clay meet up with Sheriff Diaz who explains to them why Tyler was buying illegal guns. Tyler has been working as an informant for the police, in exchange for dropping the charges on the bag of guns that were found in the river.
Meanwhile, the students of Liberty High receive their results for their college applications. Jessica is devastated to find out she's been rejected from her top three college choices. Having taken her exams just two days after Bryce was sentenced to probation for her rape, Jessica with holds the news from her father. Justin finds out he's gotten into college however Clay hasn't got any news yet. Matt and Lainie Jensen decide they will take them both to a concert to celebrate the news however the two boys aren't quite as excited. Alex finds out he's gotten into Berkeley however he doesn't let himself become too excited over the news.
At the school, Winston, Diego and Estela are listening to Bryce's tape in the dark room. Winston deduces that Jessica must have heard the tape and gotten Justin to take care of Bryce. Diego doesn't believe Jessica would have anything to do with what happened and storms off. Estela asks Winston if he's trying to find out what happened to clear Monty's name or to make himself feel better.
Ani has now moved in with Tony and his boyfriend, Caleb. She finds out that she's been accepted to eight schools with one of them being the prestigious Stanford. Ani's reaction is dampened as she doesn't believe she'll be able to afford to go to any of them. Tony reminds her that Mrs. Walker offered her money as a gift. Ani asks Tony if he would be comfortable doing that if he was in her position. Tony explains that their positions are different. His family aren't citizens so they have much more to lose and advises that opportunities should be seized.
Back at the school, Diego confronts Jessica about her avoiding him. Jessica explains that Justin's mother had died and she was being supportive to him. Diego suggests that she's avoiding him because him and Winston are close to uncovering the truth about Bryce.
Tony and Clay apologise to Tyler about mistakenly accusing him of being the school shooter during the lockdown drill. Tyler is understandably upset as his friends have lost faith in him despite them teaching him to have faith in the first place.
Jessica meets up with Alex at Monet's and tells him about the parents evening. Alex tells her that he had overheard his dad and Sheriff Diaz talking about potentially re-opening the Walker case. Jessica begins to freak out, claiming that she's annoyed all of her friends apart from Alex. Alex states that they've always been the two that stuck together.
The following day at school, Diego confronts Justin in the hallway about their rivalry for Jessica. Diego admits that he's listened to Bryce's tape and believes Jessica is covering for Justin; essentially accusing him of murdering Bryce. Justin attempts to dismiss Diego's claims but when Diego threatens to beat him up, Justin begins to get annoyed. Diego tells him that he's the one who beat up Zach. As the two begin to fight, one of the school security officers arrives to break them up. He orders Justin to go back to class before slamming Diego against the lockers and searching him. The guard accuses Diego of picking a fight purely based on his race as a group of students gather around in the hall. Justin tries to get the guard off of Diego however the guard pulls his gun out. Ordering Justin against the locker alongside Diego, he continues to search the latter. Justin is aware of the guard's racist reasoning and tries to get him to stop however the guard takes Diego off to the station.
In response to Diego's racial profiling, Jessica and Clay take the issue to Principal Bolan and demand to know why students are being treated as criminals. Bolan brushes them off with a vague promise that the school is investigating the situation and they should go back to class. Jessica decides that enough is enough and leads a school walkout.
Once everyone is outside, Jessica and Clay contemplate their next move. Ani arrives and hands Jessica a megaphone which she uses to unite the support through the crowd of students. The students start to chant that the security officers have to go. Principal Bolan is asked to remove all surveillance and shooter drills. However, as both sides of the argument are unmoving, the tensions begin to rise. Riot police are called in and demand the students leave the school grounds however rather than leave, they begin throwing school supplies at them. Tyler notices Tony ducking through the crowd to leave. When Tyler asks him to stay, Tony declines and tells him that if he gets into trouble, it could be his third strike.
During the drama in the front of the school, Zach and Alex are elsewhere deciding whether to join or not. Zach argues that it's a waste of time and convinces Alex to join him in 'making some noise'. By the gym, Alex and Zach begin smashing windows with baseball bats before hiding in the main office and vandalising. When officers see the door being barricaded, they order them to come outside. Zach tells Alex to leave out the back and to find Charlie.
The students have started to physically fight the police officers. Justin grabs Jessica, telling her that she can't be arrested right now. Jessica just states that she doesn't care, considering Justin has given up on himself too. When Justin gets involved with an officer, he's pinned to the ground. However, Diego throws the officer off and helps Justin up, who thanks him gratefully. Diego immediately asks Justin why Jessica can't get arrested, leading Diego to now believe that Jessica could be Bryce's killer. Many of the students begin running from the area however Clay is handed the megaphone by Justin. He convinces people to stay to fix the system and starts leading the walkout from there.
When Tyler is handcuffed by one of the police, Tony arrives to kick him off. When the officer apprehends Tony and goes to arrest him, the officer is stopped by Officer Ted who convinces him to leave it. He reveals to Tony that he was the one who contacted the college recruiter to watch his fight last time. Alex arrives to look for Charlie and find him unconscious on the street. He tries to wake him and notices a car on fire close by. The car explodes in a fireball.
Later on, Clay is in therapy with Dr. Ellman who's asking about the walkout. He questions Clay about whether anyone was found to be guilty of setting the car on fire. He then shows Clay footage received from Principal Bolan that shows Clay being the culprit of the fire as well as the various graffiti, the damage to the cameras and the events at the senior camping trip. Clay expresses that he doesn't remember doing any of the things shown on the footage.
