SOLVED. YA middle school shooting told from perspective of shooter [s]

[Brittany]

I read this book in high school (anywhere between 05-08) and based on its content I'd say it was not a very old book. It's realistic fiction, told in first person from the eyes of a guy who is one of a pair of shooters. His friend is the main motivator for the shooting. The book covers their lives in the weeks leading up to the shooting and through the aftermath.

[Andria]

Give a Boy a Gun by Todd Strasser, maybe?

[Brittany]

The perspective doesn't shift in this book, so I don't think that one is it.

I remember the two boys were very much loners, they were each others only friend. Both boys families are concerned about their sons and they try to get them involved in things like music but neither boy is interested. I remember a very specific scene where the narrator is remembering when his parents bought him a guitar and he remembers either him or his younger sibling dragging just it around the yard.

[Andria]

Endgame by Nancy Garden?

[Brittany]

There is another detail I remember but it's definitely spoilery and I'm not sure how to hide spoilers

[Andria]

Brittany, click on (some html is ok) to see how to post spoilers.

Was it a YA book?

[Brittany]

It's not Endgame either. I'm not sure if it was YA or not, the main characters are both in high school and I read it in high school, but it could have been written for an older audience.

(view spoiler)[When it comes time for them to go into the gym and start shooting the MC can't actually bring himself to shoot anyone. I think it is because there is one other student he sees in the crowd who was nice to him recently. In his internal monologue we see that he regrets that people are probably going to blame his friend for the whole thing when in fact they planed it together. (hide spoiler)]

[Diana]

Is it Shooter by Walter Dean Myers?

[Diana]

Or maybe Project X by Jim Shepard?

[Brittany]

That's it! It's Project X. I got the detail wrong about them being in high school.

Thank you both for all your help!

[Diana]

Happy to help!