Nineteen Minutes

by

Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes: Part 2, Chapter 1: Five Months After Summary & Analysis

Summary
Analysis
Part Two opens with a Chinese proverb about revenge. The handwritten section preceding the chapter describes how Sterling is a mostly crime-free city, which is part of why everyone was so shocked that the mass shooting occurred there. Yet, as the writer observes, “How could it not happen here? All it takes is a troubled kid with access to guns.” The writer denounces the way in which Sterling residents choose to dig their heads in the sand rather than confront the problems in their community.  
While it is true that some regions have high crime rates whereas others don’t, in a way this actually creates a misleading impression of the way that crime works. The truth is that people commit immoral acts everywhere, including in “safe,” stable, and affluent communities. However, in these communities the police and prison system are less likely to be involved.
Themes
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Vengeance vs. Justice Theme Icon
Lost Innocence Theme Icon
Appearances vs. Reality Theme Icon
Quotes
The jury for Peter’s trial is being selected, a difficult task considering that all members need not only to have been unaffected by the shooting, but also to not have been exposed to much media coverage of it. It is August and extremely hot; everyone is exhausted. The next potential juror is called up, a decidedly “normal” man who doesn’t know too much about the case. After grilling him, Jordan and Diana tell Judge Wagner that they are satisfied with him.
Again, this passage reiterates how difficult it is to achieve judicial neutrality considering that Sterling is a small town and the case is so high-profile. However, this begs the question—are neutrality and objectivity always worthy goals? Or is there some value in subjective, personal connections to an event?
Themes
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Alex and Patrick have now been dating for four months, and Alex feels as if he has entered her life via “osmosis.” This morning, after waking up at Alex’s, Patrick realizes that he’s late for work. As he gets ready to go, Alex realizes that Josie will see him on the way out. Patrick suggests that it might be a good time to tell Josie about their relationship, but Alex is hesitant. Although she doesn’t say this, she’s not worried about what Josie thinks—she’s actually concerned with protecting her own heart from getting broken. Josie shouts up from the kitchen, asking if Alex wants pancakes. Patrick suggests that this presents a perfect opportunity for Alex to distract Josie so he can sneak out.
The idea that Patrick and Alex have been turned into teenagers via their romance is further confirmed here, when Alex suggests Patrick sneak out so that Josie can’t see him—a comic role reversal of child and parent. At the same time, Alex’s concerns about Josie finding out about the relationship are understandable, particularly considering what a sensitive period this is for her. 
Themes
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Once Alex is down in the kitchen, Josie reveals that she knows Patrick stayed over. Alex says she will break up with Patrick if Josie doesn’t want them to be together, but Josie replies that Alex shouldn’t care what other people think. When Josie asks if Alex loves him, she lies and says she doesn’t—another self-protective gesture. Alex hears Patrick trying to sneak quietly down the stairs, and she calls him into the kitchen for pancakes. Selena, meanwhile, is thinking about the differences between infant boys and girls. She thinks that life can be easier for girls, because they are socially permitted to express their emotions and vulnerability where boys aren’t. She wonders who is to blame for this.
Just as teenagers are often not as good at hiding information as they want to think they are, Alex has failed to keep the truth of her relationship secret from Josie. In a way, Josie is perhaps particularly equipped to see through Alex’s attempt at secrecy because she is still an actual teenager and is thus used to pulling this kind of trick herself.
Themes
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Quotes
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Josie is pretending to have a summer job as a volunteer tutor teaching math to elementary and middle school kids. Every evening she tells Alex stories about the kids she tutors, all of which are invented, because she is not really tutoring at all. Instead, she spends her days at the cemetery, where she sits by Matt’s grave and talks to him. Lacy, meanwhile, has driven to Boston to buy an outfit for Peter to wear during his trial. A sales assistant comes to help her, saying she knows how Lacy is feeling because when her “son went away,” she felt like she was “going to die.” For a second Lacy thinks she also has a son in prison, but then realizes the woman is talking about college. Lacy says her son is going to Harvard.
This passage provokes the question of whether it is wrong for Lacy to lie and say her son is going to Harvard rather than admit that the suit she is buying is for his trial. Given the amount of judgment and hatred directed at her, Lacy can hardly be blamed for not wanting to reveal the full truth to a sales assistant who makes a wrong assumption. The fact that she claims that Peter is going not just to college but to Harvard indicates that she wants to momentarily experience a glimpse of a different world, even though she knows it’s false.
Themes
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Josie is just about to leave the cemetery when she runs into Patrick. He points out that Alex thinks Josie is tutoring right now, but he says that he is there because he wants to talk to Josie himself. Patrick says that part of his job is constantly wishing that he could turn back time and stop a terrible thing from happening, so he knows how Josie feels. Although this is exactly how she feels, she snaps back that they have “nothing in common.” Patrick says he wants to talk to Josie about the fact that he is dating Alex, but Josie says that Alex doesn’t care what she thinks. When Patrick emphasizes that Alex cares about this more than anything, Josie suddenly finds herself crying. She eventually admits she’s jealous.
Josie and Alex clearly love each other very much, yet still manage to misunderstand each other. Alex struggles to connect to Josie in the way Patrick does here, whereas Josie has the misperception that Alex doesn’t care about her opinion (when, as the reader knows, the opposite is true). This emphasizes the way in which even parents and children who are very close tend to experience major challenges to their relationships during the teenage years.
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Lewis has come to see Peter in jail for the first time in months. When he sees Peter he apologizes, not just for not coming to visit him, but for neglecting him for his whole life. Peter is moved by this, but gets angry in response, telling his father, “Fuck you.” Lewis admits that he’s so distraught that he’s been unable to function. Then, unexpectedly, he and Peter end up joking around a little, and Lewis is overwhelmed with happiness to see Peter smile.
Peter and Lewis struggled to connect with one another even before Peter committed the shooting—the only time they ever seemed to substantially interact was when they went hunting. Yet here, they unexpectedly manage to laugh together, perhaps thanks to the low expectations on which this interaction is grounded.
Themes
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Patrick and Diana discuss the guns Peter used to commit the shooting. Diana tells Patrick that Jordan will ask him why Peter switched between the two handguns—Gun A and Gun B—in the locker room for no apparent reason. Patrick suggests a few possible reasons, all of them inconsequential. Drew arrives; like Patrick, Diana is also preparing him for questioning. Diana asks how Drew is doing, and he says that his shoulder is better but that he’s been told he’ll never play hockey again. He had been counting on getting an athletic scholarship to college, and he wants to prove the doctors wrong. Diana asks Drew to describe what happened on the day of the shooting, which he does.
This passage shows that Peter’s act of violence achieved what he hoped it would—it disrupted the life of success and achievement that Drew and the other popular kids believed was waiting for them. Drew’s dreams of being a college athlete are over—as may be his dreams of going to college at all. Peter has succeeding in taking revenge, even if he has brought himself down along with his enemies. 
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When Diana asks about Drew’s relationship with Peter, Drew says that he knew Peter “forever,” and that they were neither friends nor enemies. When Diana asks if Drew bullied Peter, he says he didn’t. Patrick feels angry at this obvious lie. On Diana’s subtle signal, he puts his hand around Drew’s throat, addressing him as “you little fuck,” and telling him that they know he bullied Peter. He warns Drew not to try to protect himself, or he will end up in jail. Calmly, Diana repeats her question.
Again, it may be seen as somewhat surprising that Diana wants Drew to tell him the truth about the bullying, considering she is the prosecution and thus the idea that Peter killed innocent people should work in her favor. Yet in reality, she needs Drew to be honest so it won’t seem like he is lying during the cross-examination.
Themes
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Alex has made “barbecued lasagna” for Josie and Patrick, who examine the meal suspiciously. Alex enthusiastically explains that she burned the lasagna, but decided that this added “an extra, charcoal sort of flavor.” Gently, Patrick mentions that it is a good idea to follow recipes, whereas Josie claims to not be hungry and runs up to her room. It is the night before the beginning of the trial. Alex runs after Josie, and Josie admits that she feels conscious of how, unlike everyone else, she can’t seem to return to normality. Alex recalls a time when, at a Fourth of July party, Josie had ended up at the bottom of a swimming pool. Josie said she was looking for mermaids, and Alex asked that next time, she take Alex with her. Josie collapses into her mom’s arms, sobbing. 
There is a striking contrast between the previous scene in which Patrick violently threatens Drew and this scene of serene domestic harmony. Yet just as Matt could behave violently toward Josie one minute and be sweet the next, the recurrence of violence throughout the novel suggests that it is never too far away, even from the most tranquil, secure-seeming situations.
Themes
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When Alex comes back downstairs, she tells Patrick that she’s going to attend the trial. She asks him why Josie is still alive, how she escaped being shot by Peter. Patrick says there are some things he can’t understand, and Alex feels deeply reassured by his presence. That night, unable to sleep, Josie goes out and lies on the front lawn. Due to being a witness, she won’t be able to attend the trial, even though she wants to.
Alex’s question to Peter is more than just an expression of survivor’s (or mother-of-survivor’s) guilt. It also raises an important point—why did Peter choose not to shoot Josie, and did they interact before he spared her life? So far this has remained unclear due to Josie’s traumatized amnesiac block.
Themes
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On the morning of the trial, Lacy dresses in black, as if she were going to a funeral. She doesn’t know if Lewis is coming; he has been sleeping in Joey’s room. Going into Peter’s room, Lacy gets a copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray from the shelf. She imagines a portrait depicting a version of herself who expresses all her suppressed emotions. Lewis comes in, wearing his special suit. He and Lacy hold and hands, unable to speak. Meanwhile, Selena has left out a bowl of Cocoa Krispies for Jordan, the meal he always eats before “battle,” along with a note saying “GOOD LUCK.” His eldest son calls from college, also wishing him luck.
This passage emphasizes the starkly different meanings the trial has for different characters in the novel. Lacy and Lewis approach it as a mournful occasion, a symbolic funeral for the son they thought they had and a ceremonial way of saying goodbye to Peter’s future. Jordan and Selena, meanwhile, see it as a battle, primarily viewing it through the lens of Jordan’s career rather than the shooting itself. 
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Quotes
When Peter is brought from his cell, he realizes that no one has given him a bulletproof vest this time. He almost asks about it, but then stops himself. Meanwhile, Josie announces that she is going to the trial, too. She knows she won’t be allowed in the courtroom, but she says she can wait with Patrick because he is also sequestered. When Jordan gets to court, he sees a man in the crowd holding a sign reminding people of the fact that New Hampshire has the death penalty. He then sees another man holding a posterboard with pictures of Kaitlin Harvey and her mother, Yvette. The sign reads, “NINETEEN MINUTES.” Jordan catches the man’s eye and mouths, “I’m sorry.”
Some of the people in the crowd seem to be there out of a vicious and spiteful desire for vengeance, such as the man whose sign is about the death penalty. On the other hand, the man holding the sign memorializing Kaitlin and Yvette—who is presumably Kaitlin’s father and Yvette’s husband—has a more noble goal: making sure that the victims of the shooting are foregrounded in people’s minds during the trial. 
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There is also another crowd chanting messages of support for Peter. They identify themselves as the Bullied Victims of America, and Selena reveals that she encouraged them to come to the trial. Inside, Peter looks weak. Jordan hands him a pair of thick tortoiseshell glass to wear instead of his usual wire ones. He says it will help if Peter doesn’t look like he has the aim to shoot ten people. He encourages Peter to “look pathetic.” Peter has already begun to cry, and Jordan comforts him. Diana begins her opening presentation, setting the scene of Sterling High on the day of the shooting. She shows pictures of the school looking ordinary, then clicks to a gruesome picture of Ed McCabe’s dead body.
The fact that Selena called in the Bullied Victims of America shows the somewhat extreme lengths to which she and Jordan are willing to go in order to make Peter seem sympathetic. Indeed, this point is driven home when Jordan gives Peter the thick glasses to wear. Yet bear in mind that neither Jordan nor Selena think that Peter is going to be declared innocent or given a light sentence—what they are seeking is a hint of lenience, less for Peter than for what this would do for their careers.
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Peter tells Jordan he’s going to be sick, but Jordan instructs him to swallow it. Diana describes how Peter brought four guns to school and shot several of the victims before sitting down in the cafeteria to eat a bowl of Rice Krispies. He then got up and shot the rest. She explains that Peter shot the last victim, Matt Royston, twice—once in the stomach and once in the head. She says that while the whole episode lasted only “nineteen minutes,” its consequences will go on forever. She concludes that by the end of the trial, she knows that everyone present will be convinced that Peter deliberately murdered ten people, and tried to murder nineteen others. 
Picoult’s choice to represent the trial in such detail provides an opportunity for the shooting to be described in a coherent narrative, rather than the glimpses through which it has appeared thus far. At the same time, while this narrative may be coherent, it is not necessarily fully accurate—Diana, of course, cannot know the whole truth, and she will also likely be representing what she does know in a way that benefits her argument.
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In his own opening speech, Jordan argues that when Peter walked into Sterling High on the morning of the shooting, he didn’t want to murder people but rather “defend himself from the abuse he suffered for twelve straight years.” He describes how this abuse began on Peter’s very first day of school, and how it continued in many different forms over the course of Peter’s life. Jordan mentions that he will be calling Dr. King Wah as a witness, and that Wah has diagnosed Peter with post-traumatic stress disorder. He explains that children suffering from PTSD “can’t distinguish between an immediate threat and a distant threat.” Jordan explains that “self-defense” doesn’t just refer to immediate threats, but also broader, ongoing ones. He characterizes Peter as “a very scared boy” who never got the help he needed. 
Given everything that has happened thus far, the outlook doesn’t exactly look good for Peter, but Jordan’s argument is very persuasive. He makes a compelling case regarding the similarities between Peter and women who have suffered intimate partner violence, and he points out the powerful effects of PTSD. Yet it is worth pointing out that, even if the jury were to buy the battered woman syndrome argument, they may still not be lenient. Countless abused women have been sentenced to life in prison and even death for killing their abusers. 
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Zoe Patterson is on the witness stand. Diana asks her to explain how she left Mr. McCabe’s math class early to go to her orthodontist’s appointment. She describes hearing the explosion while waiting for her mother on the school steps, then seeing Peter approach, point a gun at her, and shoot her in the leg. Zoe explains that she tried to run, but couldn’t. She got an infection from the bullet wound and still needs a cane to walk. She had to quit the soccer team. Diana concludes her questions, and Jordan begins his. He asks Zoe to clarify that Peter wasn’t running toward her, then observes that it seems as if she was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Jordan believes that the idea that Zoe was not actually a target but was simply “in the wrong place at the wrong time” will work in his favor, by convincing the jury that Peter was deliberately seeking revenge against those who harmed him and shot others almost by accident. Yet the notion of shooting someone by accident could also be interpreted as careless, conveying a disturbing lack of respect for human life.
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Another Sterling High student, Michael Beach, observes that it’s strange how all the witnesses, from the most popular kids to “losers” like him, are waiting in the same room together. Emma—one of the cool girls, who is now in a wheelchair after becoming paralyzed—asks to share his doughnut. When Michael is called to the stand, Diana asks him if Peter said anything when he ran into the school, and Michael says that Peter asked the jocks to step forward. A senior tried to tackle Peter, but Peter shot him. Michael explains how Peter held the gun to his head, but he was saved because in that moment, Peter needed to change the cartridge.
The fact that at least one student tried to fight back against Peter is moving, as it reveals the courage people can possess even in the most extreme, horrifying circumstances. The senior who tried to tackle Peter gave his own life trying to save everyone.
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Michael saw his friend Justin’s face as he died, an image that haunts him to this day. When Diana asks if Michael and Justin were popular, Michael replies that they weren’t at all. When she asks if he has been bullied, Michael replies, “Who hasn’t?” Meanwhile, Lacy thinks about the moment she realized it is possible to hate one’s own child. Lewis had invited an esteemed economist from London for dinner, and Lacy was making an extra effort to get the house ready. The morning of the dinner, Peter rudely protested that he had no clean underwear. While he was at school, she did three rounds of his laundry in addition to finishing cleaning the house.
It is striking that Lacy compares the moment she listens to teenagers describe being attacked by her son with a gun to a moment when Peter was lazy and rude about his laundry, establishing a strange link between these drastically different incidents. While plenty of teenagers are selfish and ungrateful, few become mass murderers—yet for Lacy, it was the more mundane of the two events that produced feelings of hatred for the first time.
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Yet when Peter got home, instead of thanking Lacy he complained that he would have to put the folded laundry away. A huge fight ensued, and when Peter told Lacy he hated her, Lacy replied, “I hate you, too!” Later, Lacy apologized, although Peter did not respond and did not join the dinner with the economist. The next morning, Peter’s room was spotless, and they never spoke of that moment again. Back in the present, when Haley Weaver goes on the witness stand, Peter can barely recognize her. Her face is disfigured, covered with scar tissue. When she explains that she was homecoming queen, she starts to cry. Judge Wagner calls a recess.
Haley’s tears over her lost beauty might seem shallow, but in this context, the question of appearance is more than just trivial. Given what has happened to Haley, her former beauty comes to symbolize her previous innocence and the happiness and optimism that existed before her life came to be defined by trauma.
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The witnesses are technically not allowed to talk to one another, but no one really monitors their activity in the courtroom cafeteria, where Josie has been spending most of her time. She is moved to see the way Brady protectively holds Haley’s hand and looks at her as if she appears the same as she always did. While Josie is speaking to Drew, John walks over and introduces himself to Josie as if they’ve never met. When she says her name, he struggles to pronounce it. Patrick comes to check on Josie, pulling her away from Drew and John. Patrick admits he hates “the waiting part.” Back in the defense’s room, Josie is planning to read when she sees Lacy. When Lacy expresses surprise at Josie being in this room, Josie replies, “Peter’s my friend.”
Of the popular kids who survived the shooting, each has lost something—whether in the form of the mental disabilities or facial disfigurement suffered by John and Haley, Drew’ loss of athletic ability, or the more general trauma affecting them all. Again, this emphasizes that Peter was successful in his desire for revenge. Even for the popular kids who survived, their lives will never be as they once were. 
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On the witness stand, Drew describes how he, Matt, and Josie headed to the locker room to hide, but that Drew was shot on the way. When Diana asks if Drew and Peter were friends, Drew admits they weren’t. When asked if he ever bullied Peter, Drew says he did occasionally, but that he was just “kidding around.” Jordan then questions Drew, raising specific things Drew did to Peter like shoving him in a locker. He then brings up the moment when Matt pulled down Peter’s pants in the cafeteria, and the email Peter wrote to Josie. Drew admits that he sent the email out to the whole school and Jordan asks, “Well, Drew? […] Was it a good joke?” 
Drew’s interrogation over his behavior toward Peter draws attention to the fact that bullies are rarely made to confront their crimes, let alone face justice. Bullying is something that many people accept as a natural and inescapable (if unfortunate) part of life, which is extraordinary given how terrible the consequences can be.
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Drew is sweating, feeling a burning hatred for Diana for leaving him up there to be grilled by Jordan. However, at this moment Diana gets up again and asks if Drew has bullied anyone other than Peter. Drew admits that he has; that he has called people names, pantsed them, and even sent out other people’s emails. Diana asks, “Any of those folks ever shoot you?” and Drew replies that none of them have. Dusty Spears, the Sterling High gym teacher, was once a jock and a bully like Drew. It is now his turn on the witness stand, and when Diana asks if he ever saw Peter being bullied, Dusty replies it was just “the usual locker room stuff.” He also confirms that Peter never asked for help.
The detail about Dusty Spears having once been a jock is important. It reminds the reader that just because people grow older doesn’t necessarily mean that they mature and leave behind juvenile ways of thinking. Dusty clearly never faced consequences for the bullying he did to others, and as a result he does not believe that it is a serious issue, trivializing it as “just the usual locker room stuff.”
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Jordan then questions Dusty and makes him read the bullying policy from the Sterling High teachers’ handbook. Jordan asks Dusty to find instructions for teachers regarding what to do if they witness someone being bullied. After reading, Dusty admits there’s nothing there. Derek is then called to the stand, and Diana quizzes him about his friendship with Peter. She asks him to describe Hide-n-Shriek. She also asks about the day of the shooting, and Derek explains that he’d gone to his car to retrieve a doctor’s note that would excuse him from gym based on his asthma.
This passage drives home the point that schools are failing young people by not having proper policies on bullying. Indeed, Picoult shows that, even when teachers show incompetence on this matter, it is not necessarily their fault—they should receive clear instructions and support from the school in order to know how to handle bullying.
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While Derek was in the parking lot, he saw Peter getting something out of the back of a car and went over to say hi. However, Peter then looked at him strangely and told him to go home. When Diana asks if Peter ever said anything like that before, Derek admits that a few weeks before the shooting, while the boys were playing Hide-n-Shriek, Peter said, “When this really happens, it’s going to be awesome.” Derek says he thought Peter was joking. He also didn’t take Peter’s words seriously on the day of the shooting, and he went back into school. After hearing the explosion, Derek saw a message on the school secretary’s computer screen, which read, “Ready or not… here I come.” The secretary hid herself and Derek in the principal’s office, where the computer displayed the same message.
Like many characters in the novel, Derek can perhaps be accused of being somewhat complicit in Peter’s act. While he didn’t exactly encourage Peter, he did help him design, build, and play Hide-n-Shriek, which Peter could have taken as an endorsement and encouragement of his violent plans. Yet most people would probably agree that there is a significant difference between this kind of fantasy and acting in reality. Furthermore, Derek seems genuinely horrified and remorseful.
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Diana then pulls up a television monitor with Hide-n-Shriek playing on it. The avatar is a boy that looks like Peter, who gets to select a weapon from a vast array of choices. After a weapon is selected, the same message appears: Ready or not, here I come. When Jordan questions Derek, he asks Derek to provide details of the ways in which he and Peter were bullied. Derek describes the abuse as happening daily; he explains that there was nothing he could do to stop it, so he just let it happen. Diana gets up to question Derek again, and she asks if Derek ever sought violent revenge himself. Derek replies he hasn’t, adding, “But sometimes I wish I had.” 
This is the first time that Peter’s talent as a computer game designer is properly exposed, and it provides a glimpse into the life he could have had if he had channeled these energies into something less sinister and destructive. Meanwhile, Derek’s final comment that he sometimes wishes he’d sought revenge against the bullies is significant. It shows that, as horrified as he may be by Peter’s actions, there’s a part of him that understands and sympathizes with Peter—and perhaps a tiny part that even admires him.
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Lacy is thrown by her encounter with Josie, whom she holds partially responsible for the bullying Peter endured. She is impressed with what a kind, eloquent, and beautiful young woman Josie has become, and she is moved by Josie’s questions about Peter. However, she suspects that Josie is just being kind to Lacy herself, rather than actually being interested in Peter’s wellbeing. At the end of the first day of the trial, Lacy runs into Alex in the courthouse bathroom. Alex tells Lacy she’s sorry and shares her memories of Peter as a little boy. Lacy is moved to tears and leaves before she has a breakdown in front of her old friend. 
Lacy’s encounters with both Alex and Josie indicate how much easier the past few months might have been if she’d had people around to support her, rather than being so isolated. Unlike the Sterling residents who hurl judgments at Lacy, Alex and Josie understand the nuance of the matter through having known Peter as a child. They thus provide vital sources of mercy, kindness, and support. 
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On the drive home, Alex mentions that in court, the email Peter sent confessing his crush to Josie was read aloud. Josie cringes, reliving the humiliation of the whole episode. Josie worries that in court, everyone is going to place blame on her, but Alex assures her this isn’t happening. She asks why Josie stopped hanging out with Peter and Josie replies, “I didn’t want to be treated like him.” Back in jail, Peter thinks about how none of the other inmates cast looks of judgment and shame in his direction. Reflecting on the day in court, he thinks about how—despite the injuries they have sustained—his old bullies still have the same social power as they always did. 
Peter’s belief that his bullies have the same social power as ever is interesting. It may simply be an illusion, based on the fact that Peter still feels as intimidated and frightened by his bullies as he always did. On the other hand, perhaps there is a way in which the popular kids’ status survives whatever trauma, injury, and disfigurement they suffer, suggesting that it is a very powerful force indeed.
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