How It All Goes Down
In a new boarding school called Rothborne, Torey Adams gets used to life away from his small hometown, Steepleton, and all the weird stuff that happened to him the previous year. He sits there, thinking about how his life has changed, and begins reading a document called Creed.doc that he wrote a year ago about the mysterious disappearance of Christopher Creed, the local weirdo whom Torey is searching for.
This is the document: after Christopher Creed goes missing, and gossip begins to spread about his possible suicide or even murder, Torey finds that he isn't the only one fed up with small-town talk. His long-ago friend, Ali, is the only one he feels comfortable talking to and they discover that Chris's mom, Mrs. Creed, was probably the most to blame, despite the fact that Torey and many other folks beat Chris up all his life for not fitting in and getting along with others.
Torey feels compassion for Chris and for Ali, a recent outcast herself due to gossip, and her new boyfriend, Bo, the most feared and hated outcast of all. These three try to figure out what happened to Chris, as well as try to save Bo from Mrs. Creed's wrath and gossip, and an anger that seeks to destroy his life. Torey is also in the spotlight as he ditches his old friends in favor of the new ones that no one likes, and those old friends grow suspicious of his dealings with the town bruiser, Bo.
It is only a matter of time before all the gossip and betrayal and immaturity reach a fever pitch, and the biggest and meanest gossip in school, Renee, accuses Bo and Torey of murdering Chris Creed. Torey's best friend Alex tries to warn him, while also casting blame on Bo. Torey blows up and goes in search of Creed's body to prove his innocence, he follows an Indian ghost, turns over a boulder by accident, crushes his leg, and finds a dead body which drives him a little crazy, as he thinks the body is burning and that he's in hell.
In the hospital, we learn that Torey won't eat because everything smells burnt and he won't sleep because he's terrified of nightmares. He just keeps himself distracted from life by saying silly rhymes. We learn that the body he found was actually Bob Haines, a father of a boy who disappeared long ago. People still gossip about Torey and Bo, but Torey ignores it as much as he can; he can't stand people in Steepleton any longer and doesn't go back to school.
Through the website he started and the eighty emails he's sent with the attachment of Creed.doc, Torey has a collection of responses that he's posted online that he's given awards. The final one we get to read is definitely from Chris Creed, now going by Victor Adams. We learn that he doesn't want to be found and is living with his aunts. He also appreciates what Torey wrote, so yay. Torey found the body, but the body doesn't want to be found.