Valerie finds Jessica alone at a cancelled student council meeting and attempts to get back on the memorial committee. She brings an outline of the plan and shows it to Jessica, who loves it; the plan involves interviewing each of the victim’s families, to gain a better measure of the personal loss that day. First, they go to Mr. Kline’s home and speak to his widow. Then, Jessica and Valerie travel to Abby Dempsey’s home. Then, they visit Max Hill’s home and speak with his sister. From there, they visit Ginny; they can’t see her because of another recent suicide attempt, so they speak with her mother instead. Finally, the girls end up at Christy Bruter’s house, where they speak to Christy and her parents, who express nothing but gratitude their daughter is alive. According to Mr. Bruter, “‘We’ve learned a lot about forgiveness since this happened […] We have no interest in seeing anyone else suffer over this tragedy. Not anyone’” (385).

The next day, in Hieler’s office, Valerie remarks, “I know this sounds stupid, but I think talking to all those people reminded me of who I really am” (387). She remembers that she liked school and that she was thinking about going to college.