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Justyce is arrested
On August 25 the book begins when Justyce is going to help his ex-girlfriend Melo drive home because she is drunk. When a white cop sees him trying to get her into the car, the cop violently arrests Justyce giving him no time to explain. It gives him many fears in the future of the book giving him the thoughts that no matter what he does someone is watching and judging. Also that he got very lucky in his situation and that he was arrested and not shot. -
Acceptance to Yale
Jus gets accepted into Yale and calls SJ and his mother to tell them the news. Jared becomes mad at Jus because he believes that he is a better student and smarter but he got deferred from Yale. Jared says that schools will give the advantage to minorities. Jared continues to add that it is not his fault to have more money and a better starting place. Jus then writes in his journal that he feels he continues to be put down by the world and that he felt it strongly today. -
Winning the Debate
SJ and Justyce are debate partners and go to the state debate tournament. SJ starts there debate with "We are here to argue that racial disparities in the US criminal justice system are largely due in racial profiling" They continue to debate this topic and Jus realizes that this topic needed to be discussed no matter if they won or lost. Everyone around them was proud after their debate and proud that they could talk about it. The two walked on stage, and walked off with the first place trophy. -
Party Fight
It is Blake's birthday, one of Manny's friends. They go to the party together and when Blake starts to make racist comments and Jared begins to add on to it. Jus can no longer handle it and the three of them as well as Manny and Tyler get into a fight. He is furious that Manny would stand with those people after what they said. It is a pivotal moment in them learning about who their real friends are. -
A talk with Manny's Dad
In one of his letters to Martin he explains how Manny's dad had come and given them a talk about how unfair life is. He says that people like Jared and Blake will exist but they will have to push through it and go on with their lives. Jus feels disappointment that he may do so much but to get nothing in return. -
The shots
When driving around town and blasting their music they get stopped at a stop light with a white man judging them it hits Jus hard when he sees it. The man then yells at them to turn the music down, after they dont the man continues to yell offensive things at them. Manny gets mad and turns up music then looks over and the book says "Bang, Bang, Bang." Manny ends up dead for the shots and jus was shot twice, Jus can't believe it all happened so fast and how the media begins twisting up the story. -
The visits
Quan, Manny's cousin in jail for killing a cop, asks to see him. He tells him that he needs to join their people, and to go to his gang. He can't get it out of his head and ends up going. He goes and pours out his whole story to Martel and martel asks if he is ready to strike back. He soon realizes he does belong there and runs out. -
The couple
A long awaited event is Jus and SJ's official confirmation. After all that has happened Jus goes over to SJ's house and they both realize that they love one another. Even with the concerns of his mother not approving he lets those fears go realizing he cares more about her than giving it up for his mother. He wants to live with no regrets and go for it. -
The trial
Jus goes to the trial for what happened in the shooting. In his trial he gets to explain very little and his words are often twisted by the attorney. It ends in a mistrial of convicting murder and they will have another and Garret tison getting charged with two misdemeanors, and aggravated assault. -
The Cop is Dead
To everyones surprise there will no be a second trial because Garrett Tison was killed by three men. After trying to get protection no one listened and his was killed. He is confused about how he feels, he knows that he killed his friends but doesn't think he deserved to be killed. He writes his final letter, saying how he failed his experiment of what would martin do and instead should have asked who Martin would be. He knows that he still has time to figure everything out.
