The blood on the cafeteria floor has been washed away and the bullet holes plastered over, but those words carved deeply into the back of the worn auditorium chair will always be a reminder for the students of Rockingham High School of what happened there last May. For Stephen Valley, the brother of infamous school shooter Jude Valley, that day is one he will never be allowed to forget—especially since the small town blames him for the loss of the seven students killed in Jude’s rampage. Unfortunately, poverty has a firm grip on his mother’s finances, imprisoning him in the bigoted town with no options to leave.
Monica Monroe, a self proclaimed Theatre Nerd, hates being known only as the sister of Jude Valley’s murdered girlfriend, Simone. Even though she’s never believed Jude killed her sister over a lover’s quarrel, she does blames herself for not seeing what a monster he was. When she is partnered with Stephen for an acting scene in Theatre class, Monica views this as an opportunity to finally get some answers. Being paired with Stephen proves to be dangerous for her emotional well being and her heart. When he is beaten up for being on her street, Monica realizes his life after the actions of Jude has been as traumatic as her own.
Drawn together by tragedy, the two stumble across a shattering secret which threatens to ruin their blossoming romance and destroy their families.
This is a powerful book to read... Not only do you see the after effects of a school shooting, but you follow two victims who each have their own story come together. First is Stephen who is Jude (the school shooter) brother, and how he has to continue living after his brother sits in prison for his crimes. You see how the other students, and even the neighborhood treats him and his mother. They feel like they should have known he was going to do something, and been able to stop him. What we learn throughout the book that even before Jude went into school that day their have been trouble at home, he treated his brother Stephen badly, constantly hitting him, and abusing him in different ways. Even Jude's mother was verbally abused by Jude. They thought it was just his breakup with his girlfriend Simone, but when the truth finally comes out it is a whole lot worse.
Monica is also a victim, her sister was killed that day in the school cafeteria. You learn how she is unable to even go into her sisters room because it's too hard, how she is handling her sisters death, and her love interest who just happens to be Stephen Valley. She can't take the sympathy from everyone at school anymore, her parents are dealing with their own issues so they aren't helping her.
A truly powerful, heartfelt read for anyone who wants to open their eyes to the affects school shooting's or any other act of terrorism, because lets face it that is what it is. You will see that some things cant be stopped or changed no matter how much we think we know someone. They are always hiding something deeper, darker than we can imagine.
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