Their attorney, Ed DeLeo, called next, and Will’s mom put him on speakerphone. He’d just come from a conference with the prosecutor’s office. “The news isn’t great,” he said. “The prosecutor’s theory is that Will planned the party and provided the alcohol. I think he might have gotten off on lesser charges, but the media is all over the DA’s office since that story broke, and they need to put on a show of taking this seriously. It’s up to Will, of course, but my recommendation is that we fight the charges. If he’s willing to plead, they’re currently offering thirty days of jail time, probation, and a significant restitution payment. But I know that the big concern here is Will’s college plans, and if he pleads, that could be an issue. The fact that they’re offering a pretty light plea deal makes me think their case may be a little thin. For instance, we can always argue Will never had intent to trespass, that he believed the party was being thrown by the owner of the house. Of course, that carries the risk he could be convicted and could do a year or more in jail. Still, there’s a chance he walks on this one.

“Trip’s case is a harder call,” he went on. “If he wasn’t facing the suspended sentence, I’d suggest he plead out. Furnishing alcohol to minors is usually just a fine. But if he pleads to either corruption of minors or vandalism, it will trigger his suspended sentence from his last arrest, and he’ll be looking at a year or more in jail. I suggest we fight it and see if we can call their bluff.”

When the kitchen phone rang a third time, it was as if Will had been expecting it. He’d already heard from Princeton. He’d decided it was best to be up front, and he’d informed them he was facing a trespassing charge, keeping the details vague. They issued him a perfunctory response: Princeton takes student safety extremely seriously, and the status of any student convicted of a crime will be reviewed on a case by case basis. He wasn’t convicted yet, Will thought, so there was still a chance he could go. He didn’t want to think about what “reviewing his status” would mean if he was convicted. But there was one more call he was waiting for. He knew the Union Club Scholarship Committee would be contacting him to respond to the information he’d provided about the pending charges.

Will beat his mother to pick up the phone and carried it to the yard.