Chapter 25 covers from 10:50 to 10:53 a.m., when officers reach a panicked Autumn, who realizes that Tyler shot her knee. “I didn’t need for him to die to kill me,” (270) Autumn thinks, knowing the injury destroys her chances of attending Juilliard and becoming a dancer.

When officers reach Sylv and Fareed, Sylv tries to convince herself that “maybe I imagined the gunfire” (264) but sees Tomas and Tyler slumped dead against one another. “Here, at the broken places, all I feel is emptiness” (264) Sylv thinks, when she sees Autumn’s “fingers curled around Tyler’s head” (265).

Outside in the parking lot, a student confronts Claire. The student says Claire’s boyfriend killed her sister and accidentally shot Claire’s brother, Matt. Claire and the student apologize for the other’s loss. Claire blurts out to Chris that she wants to be a teacher. Claire says she does not want to be alone anymore, the same words Tyler said before ending his life. Here, Claire wants more answers about the day’s tragedy, and summarizes a few of the novel’s

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