How We Did It follows a week in the life of high school junior Benjamin Brinkman, an introverted artist who is happy to remain on the outskirts of the social scene. His week begins like any other: a Monday morning pep rally and a partnered assignment in English class with the girl next door. Getting paired with Emma Hart seems like a great start to the week, but by Friday evening Ben finds himself in a situation he'd never imagined: at a party standing over a dead body. The chapters flash back and forth between the days leading up to the party and the moments immediately following the murder, filling in the before and after puzzle pieces little by little until the events come to a head.
