Shattering Glass

The opening quote comes from Martha McDaniel, B’Vale’s cafeteria worker:

I always hated that whole bunch of boys, the Glass kid included. A batch of spoiled little shits. Like I didn’t know the one named Bobster called me the ‘Goulash Ghoul.’ If it wouldn’t have gotten me fired, he’d have had a laxative chaser in his stew. Every one of them should’ve had a few ass kickin’s when they were little and nothing like this would have happened (164).

Young, Debbie, and the guys shoot fireworks on the fourth of July. Young tells the guys he and Ronna broke up, but he can’t stop thinking about her. When Young goes to school the next day, Martha the lunch lady is “eyeball to eyeball with a cow. In the cafeteria” (165). Simon grabs Bobster’s jacket and shakes it at the cow like a “roly-poly matador” (165). Another student loops his belt around the cow’s neck, while the principal comes into the cafeteria in an outrage. To top it all off, a message flashes across the electronic lunchroom marquee that says, “HAPPY MOO YEAR, EVERYONE!” Then six armadillos chase a group of girls out of the bathroom and two dozen hamsters jump out of a desk drawer. It’s clear that Simon is behind the pranks, and Rob is furious. He tells the guys to meet him in the gym’s equipment room after school.

After school, everyone meets Rob in the equipment room. Rob says that Simon “is going to be elected Class Favorite. It was my idea, my game plan. I want it to stay that way” (169). Apparently, Rob is mad that Simon pulled a prank without first consulting him. Rob makes it clear that he doesn’t want Simon to do anything without his permission when he says, “why the fuck do you think you can branch out on your own?” (170). Everyone in the room is silent and tense, so Young says “Heil Hitler” to lighten the mood (170). It works. Rob laughs and then tells Simon that he needs a date for the dance. Simon suggests Ronna, making it clear that he’s always had a crush on her. Rob says, “It’s settled. Simon, you and I need to find a way to make you Ronna Perry’s hero” (172). 

The opening quote comes from Young: “The parole board asked how I felt that Rob’s been free all these years I’ve been in prison. I told them. We’re all imprisoned in different ways” (173).

After the meeting in the equipment room, Simon takes Rob home and Young takes Coop and Bobster home. Young says that he doesn’t like Rob telling them all what to do, and Bobster says that’s a switch because Rob’s been telling them what to do since they met him, and Young has never objected before.

The weeks go by. Young constantly sees Simon and Ronna together. Young finds himself driving past Ronna’s house frequently, just to see her through her bedroom window. On a Wednesday, the nominations for Favorites are passed out and Simon makes the ballot for both Class Favorite and Wittiest. Rob is angry because it means that the votes for Simon winning Class Favorite will be split.

Because of Simon, Coop gets a passing score on the ACT and will most likely get a scholarship offer from Texas Christian University. Later, Young meets Rob at his locker and tosses his Lit book onto the top shelf. Rob seems perturbed and says, “You don’t just throw something in a locker. It has a certain place” (178). Young notices that Rob’s locker is meticulously arranged.

Young takes Rob home. He thinks about how he has given Ronna up for Rob, and that if “I had given up so much for Rob, I needed him to give me something back. I wanted him to tell me his secret” (178). Young asks Rob where his dad’s at. Rob is clearly taken aback, and tells Young that his dad died. He also says, “He was just the best, absolutely the best. I worshipped him, wanted to be just like him, wanted him to be proud of me. He was smart and fun. He took me camping, taught me to shoot a rifle, played ball with me, the works” (179). Young realizes that Rob isn’t ready to talk about what happened to him, so he lets it go.

The opening quote comes from Jeff “Coop” Cooper: “Nobody ever questioned my ACTs. But I took them again. I couldn’t right all wrongs, but I could do that much” (180). He also says that Ronna came to the hospital every day after the accident and “convinced me that I was more than muscle and sweat and she taught me how to learn” (180).

Young’s dad is forcing him to take the ACT again, so he rides with Simon to the test center. Afterwards, they get Mexican food and Simon asks him who he’s taking to the Favorite’s Dance. This makes Young mad and he says he’s probably not going. Simon says that Young is nominated and must go because he’ll win. Young thinks, “There was something about the way he said that, as if it were a foregone conclusion, that set off tiny alarms deep in my head” (182).

After Simon drops Young off at home, Young grabs binoculars, hops in his car, and secretly trails Simon. Simon buys flowers and takes them to Ronna. Young says:

I wished that I could run over Glass right there in the street. I could imagine how satisfying it would feel when his body thudded against the bumper. I could visualize him broken and bleeding on the pavement, his oh-so-perfect rose smashed and ruined beside him…I pondered how it must feel to let loose, to allow the darkness trapped inside you out to run rampant (183).

The opening quote comes from Coach Larry Gavin:

Coop was a terrific athlete. He had a future, that one. It was like somebody gut-shot me when I saw the damage done to that kid’s body. I was there when the doc told Coop he’d have to have an artificial knee. Coop knew that football and college was a thing of his past. I admit I didn’t keep up with him much (185).

He also says that Coop went on to junior college and became a fourth-grade teacher.

It’s Friday, February 8th, and Coop is signing his scholarship letter in Coach Gavin’s office. On Saturday night, they have a party for Coop at Simon’s house. Young retreats to Simon’s bedroom and finds Ronna sitting all alone. Young makes small talk, but for the most part, he says that they “sat in silence, not looking at each other. I watched the dust motes dancing in the filtered beams” (189). Young wonders if they can’t go back, and Ronna says she wishes she didn’t cry all the time.

Ronna says that she’s seen a shrink and talked to her dad a lot, and she’s concluded that Young is “everybody’s idea of a ‘good’ guy, but you’re not good because of any convictions or moral compass. You’re good because you don’t say no. You do as you’re told and so far, nobody told you to do anything wrong…But someday, someone will” (190). Young refutes her observation and then begins to cry. She gently kisses him and then leaves the room. 

The opening quote comes from Eric Larsen, Brazos County’s District Attorney:

The police got no resistance from those kids that night. The arresting officer told me they were all standing like they were in some kind of trance, the violence bled out of them. Young Steward’s father got to the station with a sedative and a lawyer, but later the kid pled guilty anyway (192).

He also says that Rob was let out on bond, but he and his mom fled the country to avoid jail time. Bob’s dad got him out of any charges, and Young could have received the same deal but “he wouldn’t testify against the others” (192).

On Valentine’s Day, Young notices that Ronna receives “twenty-four blushing peach roses” from Simon. The following Saturday is the Favorite’s Dance. Young goes to the dance alone, and notices that the atmosphere is dreamlike:

Clouds of wispy material floated overhead and tiny lights twinkled through them like stars. Machines blew white fog along the floor so that feet disappeared up to ankles. The dancing couples appeared to be cavorting in the heavens with clouds above and below (193).

Young makes small talk with the guys and drinks punch, but he clearly feels lonely as he observes how beautiful Ronna looks in her “white dress that hugged her slender torso, then flared into soft folds that whispered around her legs. The dress had tiny sparkles scattered all over it. She looked star-kissed” (195). Even worse for Young, he notices that she looks happy with Simon.

Rob says he wants to talk to Young in private, so the two go to the equipment room. Young asks Rob if he’s heard of changelings, the elves that switch babies in their cradles. He said he feels like that, like he and Simon have switched places. Rob says, “My dad used to tell me stories about stuff like that when I was little. That I was magical and the elves must have brought me. I’d make him bring a mirror, and we’d look into it” (197). Rob seems nostalgic as he tells the story about his dad, and Young thinks “I hurt for Rob, knowing what he had lost and imagining how empty it had left him. If he needed to fill that emptiness up by maneuvering the school goat into a social lion, then I hoped it worked” (198). Rob apologizes to Young about him losing Ronna, and the two go back to the dance.

Young watches Simon and Ronna dancing and decides to dance with random girls. Young goes to the bathroom and Simon follows him. Simon says he wishes they could find a way to be friends, but Young says that after tonight it’s all over. Simon reminds him that he did him a favor by letting him take Creative Writing unbeknownst to his dad, and he threatens to cancel the favor. Young says, “This is the kind of shit I mean. Are you trying to blackmail me into being your friend?” (201). Simon says that Young isn’t mad about the blackmailing or Ronna; rather, he’s “pissed because Simon Glass, the former school joke, has more balls than you. Sometimes when Rob tells me to jump, I do it, but only when I feel like playing frog. You’re a frog whether you want to be or not” (202). Simon also says that tonight Young will find out that he’s “a player” and leaves the bathroom.

The opening quote comes from Ronna:

The worst part? The expression on Young’s face when he looked at me. The bat was still in his hand and there was blood on his cheek. And in his eyes was… realization. Knowledge of things nobody that age should have. No, I haven’t seen him since. He’ll be living with Coop for a while. Until he gets his bearings, Coop says. I talk to Coop often, but I won’t go see Young when he gets out. That’s over. It was over before (203).

Everyone is sitting at the tables, waiting to hear the Class Favorites be announced. Coop wins Most Athletic, Bobster and Blair Crews get Most Handsome and Most Beautiful, and Young wins Most Likely to Succeed. However, Simon wins Wittiest and Rob wins Senior Class Favorite. Everyone in the group is confused because Rob had all but assured everyone that Simon would win Class Favorite.

The opening quote comes from Emily Steward, Young’s mom: “My son was the only one who took responsibility for what he did. He was the only one punished and he was the only one who never struck a blow. Justice is certainly blind, isn’t it?” (207).

After the elected Favorites all dance together, Young tries to leave but is stopped by Rob. Rob tells Young to meet him in his office while he gathers the others. Young wants to leave but feels compelled to stay for Rob’s sake.

Young goes into the dark equipment room. Bob, Coop, Rob, and Simon are already inside, and there are bats all over the floor, which almost caused Bob to break his leg. Bob “began thumping the bat in an even rhythm against the side of the shoe,” which makes Young feel nervous (208). Rob congratulates Simon on his win, but it’s clear that he’s being sarcastic. Rob asks Simon how he won, and says according to Rob’s efforts, Simon should have won Class Favorite. When Simon won’t answer, Rob hits Simon’s ankle with a bat. Rob says he won’t ask Simon again, and says, “If you don’t talk, I’ll beat it out of you” (209). Coop tries to intercede, but Rob tells him to shut up.

Simon finally confesses that he “built an override into the school’s computer, the same way I did to change Young’s schedule. Any vote that went to me for Class Favorite was transferred to you” (210). Simon adds he won Wittiest all on his own. Rob begins to go off on Simon, but Simon interjects and says, “How dare I? How dare you? Why do you think you can call every shot? What you wanted wasn’t what I wanted” (210). Rob starts banging his bat against the floor and tells Simon that they had a deal. Simon says he doesn’t care about their deal, that things are better for him this way. Rob hits Simon across the knees with the bat. Coop tries to stop him, but he punches him in the nose.

Simon says that he’s not scared of Rob, that he can hurt him without a bat. Simon says all he needs to say is Rob’s real name, “Robert Haynes Baddeck, Junior” (211). He asks Rob to tell them all about his dad. Rob is clearly confused and irate, but Simon keeps going. He says, “Man accused by his wife of molesting their son. She discovered it, but it had gone on since the kid was eleven…Mom slaps the old man in jail but, wow, the kid is now sixteen. How come it went on so long, Rob? Did you…like it?” (212).

Simon then turns to Young and Bobster and tells them that they only won the Class Favorite election because he changed some numbers in the system. He then says, “what a group we’ve got here. One is the son of some kind of faggot, another who’s so chicken that he ought to be a woman, and you,” he says, pointing to Young, “One who’s such a pussy that he gives up his girl because somebody told him to. And to think, Young, it was all for nothing. Ronna’s gone and Simon Glass has her and all you’re left with is shit” (214). He also says that Rob was never anyone’s friend.

Rob raises his bat and hits Simon in the back of the head, “cracking the bones like Popsicle sticks” and “smashing into the side of his face, caving in his cheekbone, cratering a bloody dent in his forehead” (214). Simon falls down and screams while Bob and Rob smash their bats into his body. Young just stands and watches; he’s “too weak to strike and too filled with hate to stop the blows” (215). Simon screams out “why?” and Coop falls onto him, trying to shield him from the blows. Rob and Bob just keep going, ultimately injuring Coop. Finally coming to their senses, they drop their bats and hear running and screaming. Young says, “We stood silent and unmoving” (215).