Jennifer Brown

Last night I chatted with a few middle school teachers and a student -- my first online book chat about my own book. Cool! These guys were deep-thinking about HATE LIST and asking questions that never been asked before (and, honestly, had never even thought of before).

One question -- asked by the lone student -- really left me scratching my head. She asked: If Valerie had known that Nick planned to shoot up the school, would she have stopped him?

(My answer, I'm afraid, was a lot of uncomfortable throat-clearing, followed by the ever-annoying, "What do YOU think about that?")

So we discussed, and moved on, but in my head I kept asking myself the question over and over again. Would Valerie have stopped the shooting, had she known in advance?

And, without getting all spoilery on you (Remember -- This is a spoiler-free zone!), I think I have my answer.

On the one hand, Valerie would have thought that turning Nick in would have meant losing him, and she would have felt losing him would be too high a price to pay. She was IN LOVE to the zillionth power, after all! There also might have been a tiny part of her who believed some people might have deserved it (They didn't. It's impossible to deserve being shot in cold blood in your school cafeteria, just so you know).

On the other hand, Valerie did stop the shooting while it was in progress. Did she stop it to protect the students who were getting shot? Or did she stop it to protect Nick?

I think she stopped it partly out of protection. She wanted to protect herself, yes, but she also was trying to protect Nick. She had done it before -- in the cafeteria when he began to respond to some bullying, she put her hand on his arm and told him to let it go -- protecting him from getting himself in trouble. And Valerie was definitely smart enough to foresee a plan like Nick's ending in trouble -- big, deadly trouble.

But over and above it all, Valerie had a good heart. She was a good person.

So I would have to say, yes. She would have stopped it in advance for the same reason she stopped it in progress -- because it was Just Wrong.

And, then, of course, came the follow-up question:

Who would she have told?

AARGH! You're kidding me with these questions!!!

(P.S. Thoughtful readers freaking ROCK!!!!)