Promise Boys

Back at home, Trey looks up information about Nico. He finds a picture of him from court and an article about his arrest for attempted murder. When it names the Dioses, Trey is angry that Ramón never mentioned it.

Uncle T comes to Trey’s room. He tells him that the police contacted him. Although they don’t have the murder weapon, they know that the type of gun that killed Moore is the same type that Uncle T owns. Uncle T told them that he doesn’t know where his gun is.

Trey starts crying, believing that he is partially responsible for Moore’s murder. He tells Uncle T the truth: that he accidentally took the gun to school and then hid it.

When Uncle T asks why Trey didn’t just tell him, Trey admits that he didn’t want Uncle T to be angry at him. Uncle T apologizes, acknowledging that he has always been too harsh on Trey.

Ramón goes back to El Rincón and follows Nico. When he goes into an alley, Ramón realizes too late that Nico is cornering him. Nico pushes him to the ground and demands to know what he wants.

Ramón apologizes, calling him “Mr. Martinez,” which causes Nico to let him up. Ramón tries to explain that he was hoping to get answers about what the Dioses did to Moore. He admits to having seen Ever give Nico money.

Nico tells Ramón that the money from Ever was from César. It was a downpayment to purchase El Rincón. The idea fills Ramón with pride but also makes him sad that he assumed the Dioses had something to do with Moore’s death.

Nico then tells Ramón that he needs to “start by following the money” (239). The cafeteria staff have noticed that the school is broke despite all the donations that they get.

The news reports that the type of gun used to kill Moore has been identified and that the guardian of one of the three suspects owns the same type of gun.

When Trey gets a message from Ramón about meeting again, he is anxious to confront Ramón about Nico. However, when he gets there, everyone in the group is already yelling. They turn on Trey, demanding to know about the gun.

Trey admits that he’s the one who brought the gun to school. When he insists that he didn’t shoot Moore, J.B. backs him up, revealing that he moved the gun, which means that Trey wouldn’t have known where it was.

Trey then brings up Nico, turning on Ramón. Ramón insists that Nico is no longer affiliated with the Dioses. As they all start yelling at each other again, someone speaks from the shadows. Unk steps forward. He tells the group that they are missing the bigger picture: Someone is trying to pin the murder on them. He drinks from a brown bag and then goes back into the shadows.

Keyana agrees with Unk. She says that they need to start telling the truth and trusting each other.

J.B. admits to the group that he had blood on his clothes the day Moore died. It was from a nosebleed, as he gets them when he is anxious. Trey laughs in response, admitting that all their “stories sound like bullshit” (245).

J.B. then brings out the things from Omar’s locker. He has pictures of Moore as well as a binder full of notes on him. When he shows them the rejection letter for photography funds, J.B. points out that the Promise Fund is supposed to go toward college. However, Moore expels students who can’t get scholarships. They have also never heard of anyone actually getting money from the Promise Fund. Ramón speculates how Ennis would react if he heard that the fund was a scam. At the end of the conversation, everyone agrees that they need to talk to Omar.

When Magda gets home, César is watching the news. He has an ankle monitor on from being under house arrest. The newscaster talks about the memorial for Moore, where Hicks will speak and a portrait of Moore for the school will be unveiled.

When it finishes, Magda asks César who he thinks killed Moore. César pauses for several minutes and then says that the murder was about “power.” He insists that whoever killed Moore wanted people to know that he “wasn’t really the king” (248). Magda makes a response about how dangerous the throne is and then rests her head on his shoulder.

The unnamed student is adamant that they have to stay silent and “invisible.”

That night, Keyana looks for information about funding at Promise. She follows Moore and his “kingly career” online (252). She gets angry when she thinks about how he used boys like J.B., Ramón, and Trey to make money. He saw them as broken and forced them into a “box” at Promise to try to fix them—all while getting rich and famous himself. She also learns that Ennis is extremely wealthy, donating money to a variety of places and gaining fame himself.

J.B., Trey, and Ramón go to Promise at the end of the school day. They follow Omar and then confront him before he gets on the bus.

When they show Omar his binder, he insists that he was making a video on Moore with Moore’s permission. It was for the school board so that Moore could get funding for another Promise campus. However, once he started looking into Moore and the school, he realized that the Promise Fund money never went to students.

The boys then ask why Omar was in Moore’s office the day he died. Omar tells them that they were supposed to record a video for the interview. Omar left to go get tape, and while he was gone, he heard the gunshot.

Finding his story plausible, the boys decide to tell him that they are looking at suspects for Moore’s murder. When Omar asks who else they have, they admit that Mrs. Hall or Ennis seem like the only other possibilities. Omar reveals that he saw Mrs. Hall going into the game just before he heard the gunshot, effectively crossing her off the list.

Omar takes paperwork from his bag. He shows the boys that there are dozens of denials for the Promise Fund and only a few approvals. One name always gets approved: Stan Lee. Omar points out that “Stan Lee” matches Ennis’s first name, Stanley. He speculates that either Ennis was taking from the fund, Moore was using his name to do so, or they were working together.

When Trey asked Brandon for a favor, he felt obligated to agree. His mother has forced him to stay away from Trey, and he feels guilty about it.

Brandon is hiding in the conference room by the door, waiting for Ennis to leave so that he can follow him. He hears Ennis approaching, talking to Hicks. Ennis reassures Hicks that he can take over Moore’s job. He asks him about the Promise Fund, mentioning a “partnership,” and Hicks assures him that he has “always been a businessman” (261).

The same anonymous sender who was emailing Moore emails the three boys. He warns them to “stay away” or they will “be sorry” (263).

Omar thinks of how he has become a “nobody,” acting as just another object in the school that people use to their advantage and then forget about when they don’t need him. He likes it that way, though, because it allows him to become invisible.

On the day of the murder, he was in the hallway taking videos of the students and banners to show to donors. After everyone entered the gym, he heard two men arguing. The white man shot the Black man and then walked out of the school as Omar went back to being “invisible.”

Mr. Ennis comes into the office. He asks Omar if he has the video ready for Moore’s memorial. He assures him that he does and then offers to send it to him for approval.

Omar wonders whether he is a coward, as he never told anyone what was happening with the Promise Fund. He then assures himself that no one would have believed him anyway.

Ramón is bothered by the email, as the wording of it sounds familiar, but he can’t figure out why. He texts the group, confirming that Trey and J.B. got the same one. Magda writes back that she is certain Ennis is the killer.

Ramón thinks about how awful Moore was in the days leading up to his death. He realizes that Moore had his own problems and was taking it out on the kids. He acknowledges that they “aren’t bad kids, Moore was just a bad man” (270). He then realizes why the email sounds so familiar.

The group arrives at the school for Moore’s memorial. They are relying on Omar to edit the video to implicate Ennis. When they get to the basement door, they split up.

J.B. thinks about the last few days and realizes how much happier he has been not having to be at Promise. He vows not to return there.

Trey sits in the crowd during the memorial for Moore. Several adults speak about Moore’s life, insisting that he was a good person. Hicks announces that the school will be renamed after him. The entire time, Trey grows angrier, thinking about how unfair it is that someone like Moore is celebrated, while he, J.B., and Ramón are made out to be villains.

Omar introduces and then starts his video. It shows Moore years ago when Promise started. He looks happy and is friendly with the students. The school also looks nicer, with more color and fliers and no blue line down the center of the hall. Then, as the video moves through time, the school starts to look grayer. Moore also begins to look older and more disheveled. Omar puts in several clips of Moore having altercations with students, slamming their lockers or yelling at them. He also has individual shots of Ramón, J.B., and Trey, discretely edited into the other clips.

At the end, the screen goes dark. All the crowd can hear is a recording of Moore and Hicks arguing. Hicks is demanding part of the money from the Promise Fund, but Moore insists that he needs to stay out of it. When the video comes back, Hicks is confronting Moore with a gun. The crowd gasps as he shoots him.

Ramón reveals why the email sounded familiar: The use of the word “skulking” reminded him of Hicks using the word when he disciplined the students.

As the crowd begins to murmur, Hicks is on stage trying to cut the video. Keyana notes that the police are already there.

J.B. stands on his chair. The crowd whispers that he is innocent. Trey and Ramón then join him, standing on their chairs as well. Eventually, all the “Promise Boys” in the crowd stand on their chairs in “defiance” (288).

Hicks has been arrested on several charges, including murder. The gun was found in his home with his fingerprints on it. He is working with the authorities to provide information about fraud and embezzlement with the Promise Fund. Ellis, his wife, and a board member have already been implicated.

DNA evidence was returned from J.B.’s shirt. The blood was his own.

Terrance, Trey’s uncle, admitted that the gun was his. He insists that it was stolen. Hicks admitted to having found it in the school, although there is no evidence as to how it got there.

Ramón’s fingerprints were on his hairbrush in Moore’s office. However, Hicks admitted to having planted it there. In the end, all three boys were exonerated.

One year after Moore’s death, Mrs. Hall is Promise’s new principal and has removed many of the regulations, policies, and staff of the old school. With the work of a student-led committee, they have researched and implemented new programs for successful learning. There are mental-health professionals in the school, as well as a better ESL (English as a second language) program and a sensory room. Principal Hall also changes the school’s motto.

Ramón is in culinary school with plans to become a chef. Trey is playing Division I basketball and majoring in computer science. J.B. and Keyana are currently on a road trip to see the country, with plans to attend college for musical composition and law, respectively, in the fall.