A hockey player at Sterling High and Josie’s boyfriend. Matt is part of the popular crowd and has a high social status at school, although he is not particularly smart and sometimes makes Josie do his homework for him. He exhibits traditionally masculine behavior, acting tough, taunting those he perceives as weak, and being possessive and controlling of Josie. Indeed, this possessiveness is eventually revealed to be a sign of abuse. In many ways, Matt is a typical abuser: he wants to control every aspect of Josie’s life, is irrationally jealous, punishes her when he believes that she has embarrassed him in front of others, claims that he only abuses her because she makes him (and because he loves her too much), and threatens suicide the only time she tries to leave him. Matt dies in the shooting—at first the reader believes that Peter kills him, but at the end of the novel Josie confesses that she shot Matt in the stomach, before Peter shot him in the head.
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Matt Royston Character Timeline in Nineteen Minutes
The timeline below shows where the character Matt Royston appears in Nineteen Minutes. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Part 1, Chapter 1: March 6, 2007
...time comes, she wants to be prepared. Down in the kitchen, she finds her boyfriend Matt waiting for her, having let himself in. Josie assures him that she wanted to see...
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...High parking lot and thinks about the fact that soon, she will be a senior. Matt suggests they ditch school, but Josie points out this would jeopardize his position on the...
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...for doing cocaine. Her dealer is the leader of the Sterling High Bible study club. Matt greets Josie, and on seeing the French fries on her tray asks if she’s really...
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Part 1, Chapter 3: Hours After
...at the list of wounded, which has been posted by the hockey rink. She sees Matt’s name on the list, then Josie’s. She almost drops to the floor, but instead pushes...
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...during the shooting and now has a mild concussion. From the news, she knows that Matt is dead, and she worries that Josie was with him when he was killed. She...
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...Hesitantly, Patrick explains that Josie was actually the victim of a school shooting, and that Matt was killed in it. Josie wails and immediately starts thrashing.
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...Patrick feels overwhelmed by horror. Alex comes out and curses him for telling Josie about Matt. Gently, Patrick reminds her that Josie is “one of the lucky ones. Stunned by this...
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Part 1, Chapter 5: The Day After
...that Mr. McCabe and Topher McPhee are both dead. It still doesn’t feel real that Matt is also gone.
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...Selma says that Gun B appears to have been fired, and that the bullet from Matt’s stomach could have been from Gun B or another gun. Patrick thinks it’s unlikely Peter...
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...presence of the media and the fact that every day brings a new funeral. At Matt’s service, a group of Sterling students attend wearing hockey jerseys with his number, 19. Josie...
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Matt’s father asks if Josie is ok, and if she wants to say anything about Matt....
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Part 1, Chapter 6: Six Years Before
On one particular day after soccer practice, Matt is in the shower and angrily tells Peter to stop looking at his penis, while...
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...push him away. Josie also hands Dolores a tampon and goes to stand next to Matt after doing so.
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Part 1, Chapter 7: Ten Days After
...asleep, then sneaks out of bed, just like she once did to go and see Matt. She manages to find the DVD she wants—a home recording of her sixteenth birthday. Courtney,...
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...adult. She hears a car in the driveway and for a brief second thinks it’s Matt, who always drove her to school. Instead it’s Drew, who still has one arm in...
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Part 1, Chapter 8: One Year Before
...end up playing a word association game. Josie appears to be enjoying herself, but then Matt walks into the store and she blushes, looking frightened. Matt says that their friends are...
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Peter asks if Josie has a crush on Matt, which she denies. He then asks what it feels like to be “at the top,”...
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In Josie’s math class, Mr. McCabe sings and makes jokes. Matt pokes Josie flirtatiously. They are learning about graphs, and each student has to present a...
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Josie tells Peter to never speak to her again. Matt tells Josie that he thinks Peter is right about her, and at first Josie thinks...
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...get ready, but she is too worried about Josie saying no to even ask. Becoming Matt’s girlfriend has rescued Josie from the damage to her reputation caused by Peter’s presentation. She...
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...gets it when Peter is fired. Josie enjoys the social protection that comes with being Matt’s girlfriend, although she also remains terrified that one day he is going to determine that...
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While waiting for Matt after school, Josie is horrified to find that Peter has approached her. He asks her...
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While they are walking away, Josie hesitantly asks why Matt targets Peter. Matt says Peter started it, and when Josie keeps asking, he gets angry....
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Josie is in Lincoln, Massachusetts, an affluent suburb of Boston. Matt has driven her there, eager to use his newly-acquired driver’s license. She’s told Matt the...
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...bullied students to kill bullies. Taking out his yearbook, he circles the pictures of Drew, Matt, John, and Josie.
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On the way back from Logan’s house, Josie breaks down and Matt comforts her. They start making out and touching one another, and though Josie is initially...
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Courtney, Maddie, Josie, Matt, Drew, and John are watching a “teen sex comedy” at Maddie’s house. Josie and Maddie...
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...slumber party at Maddie’s house. It is 3 A.M. and they are bored. Courtney calls Matt, putting him on speakerphone, and confesses that she likes him. Matt immediately realizes that Courtney...
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...another “Truth” question, Josie admits that she was lying about falling on ice. She and Matt were having a fight and he hit her, causing her to fall to the floor....
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Part 1, Chapter 9: One Month After
...back from court. There is a cross for each victim, and when she gets to Matt’s cross she starts crying, looking at a picture of him and Josie together. She thinks...
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...and John are still recovering from the injuries they sustained in the shooting, and with Matt, Courtney, and Maddie dead, Josie’s friend group only consists of Drew, Emma, and Brady. Right...
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...and Alex indicates she’ll try. After Alex leaves, Josie lies on her bed and murmurs Matt’s name.
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...Jordan questions Josie about her friendship with Peter. When he asks what Peter’s relationship with Matt was like, Josie begins to cry. At this point, Alex suggests that Josie go wait...
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...she needs to do homework. She turns the music up loud and thinks about when Matt used to come over while her mother went upstairs to give them privacy.
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Part 1, Chapter 10: The Month Before
Like all couples, Josie and Matt have a “pattern,” a particular choreography of movement they always follow when they are together....
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...tell the girl how he feels. She concludes, “It worked for me.” Meanwhile, Josie and Matt are naked on the floor of her living room, both a little tipsy after drinking...
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...bored. She’s tried to quiz Josie for details about the sex she’s been having with Matt, but Josie refused to reveal much. Now Josie is in the shower. Suddenly, the email...
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...the fact that her period is three days late. On Tuesday afternoon, Josie is at Matt’s house, writing a social studies essay for him. Matt and Drew are lifting weights and...
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...act casually about the email, calling Peter a “total loser.” She gets to work on Matt’s essay, and he kisses her hand in gratitude. Meanwhile, at school, Courtney confronts Peter in...
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...start teasing them both, making references to Peter’s email. Peter realizes that he’s been tricked. Matt gets up and, in one quick movement, pulls Peter’s pants down, exposing his naked body...
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Matt comes over after school to tend to Josie, who he also believes is sick. He...
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...he never ordered them. After hanging up, he tells Lacy it was a wrong number. Matt has an away game, and Josie comes to see him in the locker room beforehand,...
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Part 2, Chapter 1: Five Months After
...tutoring at all. Instead, she spends her days at the cemetery, where she sits by Matt’s grave and talks to him. Lacy, meanwhile, has driven to Boston to buy an outfit...
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...then got up and shot the rest. She explains that Peter shot the last victim, Matt Royston, twice—once in the stomach and once in the head. She says that while the...
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On the witness stand, Drew describes how he, Matt, and Josie headed to the locker room to hide, but that Drew was shot on...
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Part 2, Chapter 3: Five Months After
...Peter used to commit the shooting, Gun A and Gun B. She plays footage of Matt lying on the ground of the locker room with half his head blown off. Diana...
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Although no one knows, Josie once broke up with Matt. They were at a party, and Josie had gone to the bathroom when a boy...
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Josie immediately cycled to Matt’s house, where she found him next to a bottle of Tylenol and a bottle of...
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...the moment that one of the guns dropped out of Peter’s bag. She says that Matt tried to fire at Peter and missed, and this is when Peter shot Matt. Jordan...
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...night after Josie falls asleep, Patrick comes over and Alex explains that Josie revealed that Matt shot at Peter first in the locker room. Patrick assures Alex that Josie will be...
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...her grade in school. Then she describes the moments leading up to when Peter murdered Matt, including when Peter shot Drew as he was trying to escape.
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Part 2, Chapter 4: 10.16am, The Day Of
In the locker room, Matt forces Josie to get down on the ground, then positions himself in front of her....
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Josie instantly runs to Matt, trying to stop the blood gushing from his wound. She demands that Peter help her,...
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Part 2, Chapter 5: Five Months After
...interrupted by Diana. He explains that he figured out that Peter couldn’t have possibly shot Matt, and Diana tells him that Josie just confessed to doing it.
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...a friend.” Meanwhile, when Alex finally gets to talk to Josie, Josie explains, “I loved Matt. And I hated him. I hated myself for loving him.” She accuses Alex of being...
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Peter is convicted of eight first-degree murders, though in Matt and Courtney’s case this is diminished to second-degree murders. Although he isn’t sentenced right away,...
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