Part 2 begins in the past, with Valerie recollecting the events immediately following the shooting. She wakes up in a hospital bed after surgery. As her parents and the police reveal more information to Valerie about the shooting, she expresses shock when they explain Nick shot her. Valerie begins to cry uncontrollably. At a loss, her parents fight and leave the room; Valerie is alone with her brother, Frankie, who wants to know what she did. Valerie, unable to answer, realizes she bears responsibility for the shooting that day, but remains unable to process that guilt just yet. When Valerie asks about Nick, Frankie tells her Nick committed suicide shortly after shooting Valerie. 

Valerie shares more about herself as she explains the origins of her romance with Nick and her former, growing obsession with hate and anger: “It’s funny that the name that would turn out to be the most recognizable of my class […] Nick Levilwas a name nobody’d heard of before our freshman year” (131). In fact, outside of their small crowd, Nick didn’t seem known for anything other than getting picked on and coming from the poorer part of town. She describes Nick as the opposite of everyone else: his clothes old, cheap, and worn, and that he had a huge chip on his shoulder.