Eleanor and Park: Chapter 18 Summary & Analysis

Eleanor tells her mother about her father’s offer in front of all the other kids—but Sabrina tells Eleanor she can’t go. Eleanor’s siblings all start crying because they miss their father. Sabrina asks Eleanor why she cares about spending time with her father, since he’s “never cared” about her. Eleanor insists she needs to get out of the house for a while. Sabrina says she’ll talk to Richie about it. Eleanor begs her not to, stating that Richie can’t start telling her whether or not she can see her own father. Sabrina retorts that Richie is the one who puts food on the table—Eleanor laughs, as there’s hardly any food and not even a dining table in the house. Eleanor begs her mother one last time to go, and Sabrina relents. Eleanor is desperate for the chance to talk to Park on the phone at her father’s house.

The next morning on the bus, Eleanor asks Park for his phone number. He says that he assumed she wouldn’t be allowed to talk on the phone—Eleanor says she probably wouldn’t be, if her family even had a phone. Nevertheless, Park starts to write his number on her textbook—Eleanor stops him, telling him she doesn’t want her mom to see it. Park notices a “gross” note on her textbook—“suck me off.” Eleanor begins scribbling it out, but Park asks her why she’d write something like that. Eleanor insists she didn’t write it—but doesn’t know who did. Park comforts her, but Eleanor is embarrassed for him to see her looking so vulnerable.

Park asks Eleanor if she still wants his number. She says she does, and explains that she’s babysitting at her father’s house on Friday. She tells Park to tell her his number, and promises to memorize it. Park sings his number to the tune of “867-5309,” and Eleanor laughs, cheered by his silliness. 

The narrative switches to Park’s point of view. He remembers the first time he saw Eleanor—and how he thought she looked like a train wreck. Now, though, when he pictures Eleanor, all he can think about his how “adorable” she is. The idea of anyone making fun of Eleanor—or leaving lewd notes on her schoolbooks—makes him feel violently angry. Still, he is ashamed to admit there is a part of him that feels “self-conscious” about being seen with Eleanor. Every time he sees her, though, he can’t think about doing anything but “whatever he could […] to make her happy.”

At lunch, Eleanor is so nervous she can barely eat. On the way home from school, on the bus, Park makes Eleanor repeat his number over and over again to make sure she’s got it. Park asks Eleanor if it’s “stupid” for him to feel like they have a date at last—even though they’re together every day, he points out, they have “fifty chaperones” around them at all time in the form of peers, teachers, and parents. Eleanor, too, expresses excitement about their upcoming “date.”