Possibly the wrong place to comment but can something be done about Jody please, makes me sad 'cos I've been in exactly her position before and knowing there is no way out is worse than knowing that you got it wrong in the first place. And I just really feel for her if you see what I mean. Yeah I'm soppy. :)

JC

I've only just noticed these comments, and I wonder what produced this odd determination to give Jody a free pass?

"Jody was trying to appologize and everyone was taking her wrong and scaring her to death. She was not part of what happened and she is a victim, like Tuck. She was trying to make it right, and everyone is pulling her down."

How was Jody "not part of what happened"? She was present when Tuck was assulted, and even if she did not actually hit him, she apparently stood and watched while her friends put the boot in rather than intervening or at least going to get help. I hardly think this makes her a victim like Tuck, who was after all nearly beaten to death, rather than merely suffering a few sleepless nights.

As for Jody's attempts to apologise, I don't think they really qualify as "trying to make it right". No apology, or anything else, can ever do that, and Jody's motives seem entirely self-serving. To quote "Burning Bridges":

"Because, Holly, maybe if we apologize, he won't do something?"
"How do you know where he is?"
"They said it in the newspaper, where he went-"
"Did- Did they say anything about... you know-"
Jody shook her head. "Just where he was taken... They didn't even say his name, but they mentioned the helicopter flight and where it went."

Or again, later in the same chapter.

"It was a STUPID idea-"
"No it fucking WASN'T!" Jody yelled back. "Why the fuck do you think we got suspended, huh? Some kind of shit with his parents or something, they threatened the school with a lawsuit... MAYBE if we could APOLOGIZE to them, they won't put us in fucking JAIL?" Holly didn't say anything to that. "Did you ever think of THAT?"
"I don't think saying 'sorry' is gonna work on them, Jody," Holly said grimly as she pulled up to the exit gate.

I'm with Holly on this one. Saying sorry and shedding a couple of crocodile tears doesn't earn Jody absolution in my book. Slightly less guilty than some of the other cheerleaders? Just maybe. Innocent, or a victim? No way. Being scared is the least Jody deserves.

As regards the guilt of other cheerleaders, football players or athletes, I am reminded of the words of Tacitus:

"A shocking crime was committed on the unscrupulous initiative of few individuals, with the blessing of more, and amid the passive acquiescence of all."

The few would not have assaulted Tuck if they had feared the ostracism of their peers. The fact that they did assault Tuck suggests that they expected at least the passive acquiescence of their friends. A final quotation, from Albert Einstein this time:

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing."

Best wishes, Andrea.