The Day After Chapter Summary
This is where Peter may be spending the rest of his life. He looks up at the camera in the jail cell, and wonders who really is behind that red blinking eye. Peter does not realize the consequences as he is still in shock. He plays over in his head repetitively what had happened the day before. This is now the point where Jordan McAfee meets his client. Jordan McAfee was appointed to the case by Peter's father. Lewis and Lacy are at home attempting to comfort each other with their son's mistake. They wonder if what had happened at Sterling High was due to any of their actions, or lack of. Police officers invade the Houghtons house to gather evidence for court. They take most of Peter's belongings including books, a computer,magazines, along with pictures of the room and different parts of the house. The police inquire about the rifles Lewis owns in the basement, and blame him indirectly for the trigger of the incident. Josie lay in her hospital bed, while making a mental list of the wounded. Josie learns that her boyfriend was one of the ten dead at Sterling High. She lay there helpless and wonders, "If you gave someone your heart and they died, did they take it with them? Did you spend the rest of forever with a hole inside you that couldn't be filled?"(102).
At 7:00 a.m., Josie is discharged from the hospital. She walks the bustling hallways of the hospital that remind her of her school, she notices a familiar name on a clipboard outside a room: HALEY WEAVER. Haley was a senior, homecoming queen for the past two years. She and her boyfriend, Brady, were the Brangelina of Sterling High. Josie pays a visit to Haley, when Haley asks her, "My face, it's ruined, isn't it"(103). Josie explains it isn't bad, when the right thing to do is tell a lie. She keeps quiet the whole ride home, and does not speak to her mother. She'd cut her forehead and narrowly avoided needing stitches, although the doctors had wanted to watch her overnight.
Josie wishes to attend the arraignment the next day, but Alex will not allow it.
Patrick begins to investigate the avidence. The police department now has the guns used in the shooting spree, labelled gun A, B, C, and D. The guns were tested for latent prints. Gun A had a print that matches the suspect, Peter, guns C and D were clean, and Gun B had a partial print on it that was inconclusive. Gun A was the gun primarily used during the shooting, and guns C and D were left in the backpack retrieved at the crime scene. Gun B had jammed after one discharge. It is understood now that Matthew Royston was the only victim to be shot twice.
At the arraignment which lasted approximately five minutes, it was decided that Peter would be remanded into custody for the next ten days until further accusations.
That night Josie had trouble sleeping. She gathered her mothers pills she had stashed away over the past year for emergencies, and got to the bathroom where she was hysterically crying. Her mother had heard the sobbing and raced upstairs, to find Josie without the pills on the bathroom floor.
Matthew Royston's memorial service was held in a church that wasn't large enough to hold the grief of its mourners. Classmates and parents and family friends packed into the pews, stood along the walls, spilled out the doors. Josie and her mother were sitting somewhere in the back, but that didn't keep Josie from feeling everyone was starring at her. Before Josie realized what she was doing, she'd gotten to her feet. Josie was shaking so hard as she stepped into the aisle. Mr. Royston has asked if Josie was alright, which she could not respond. She got to the podium at the front of the church, not realizing what she was saying, she blurted out to the crowd, "I'm sorry. Oh God. I'm so sorry"(119). Her mother had placed her arms around Josie and escorted her out of the church.