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Chapter 21
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tell Me Three Things, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Blended Families
Intimacy and Growing Up
Wealth, Fitting In, and Bullying
Home
Friendship
Summary
Analysis
Jessie puts her head down and hurries to her car, shaking. She decides to drive to Chicago, but Liam appears in front of her. Jessie begs him to leave her alone and then angrily tells him that he and Gem need to let her be. Liam looks confused and swings his guitar off next to his car, a Tesla. Jessie tells him to talk to Gem and deflates when Liam asks if she’s working today. She realizes she’s not going to Chicago; she needs gas money first. SN messages her and they discuss her favorite movie, Footloose, which he doesn’t like. He’s had an awful day; his mom hasn’t left the couch or acknowledged him. He asks Jessie to promise to not leave L.A. Jessie is confused since Caleb barely acknowledged her again today, but she decides to lie and promises to stay.
Noting that Liam drives a Tesla shows that in this moment, Jessie is hyper-aware of all the ways that her classmates are different and wealthier than she is. Liam may be nice to her most of the time, but he’s still part of a socioeconomic class that can buy its way out of trouble and consequences. This all becomes even clearer to Jessie when she realizes she doesn’t even have the money to escape Los Angeles unless she works and earns the money herself.
Themes
At work, Liam’s mom gives Jessie a box of books to shelve. Jessie contemplates grabbing one for Dad before remembering they’re not speaking. She thinks about Caleb’s smile, which is hard to conjure, and Ethan’s, which comes into her mind easily. Liam’s mom gives Jessie a tissue to clean up her mascara-smeared face as Jessie wonders if Liam’s mom likes or knows Gem. Liam’s mom tells Jessie she’s beautiful and offers to give Jessie the afternoon off. Her kindness makes Jessie hurt. It makes Jessie remember that she’ll go home to Rachel’s house, not her own, and Mom won’t be there to help Jessie feel better. They won’t be able to go through their bad-day ritual of cocoa and cookies. Jessie texts Scarlett and asks if her basement couch is available next term. Scarlett says it is, but it’s dirty—she and Adam spend a lot of time there.
Even though Los Angeles doesn’t seem all that great right now, Scarlett’s implication that she and Adam are being physically intimate on the basement couch makes it clear to Jessie that Chicago might not be home anymore either. Clearly, Scarlett has moved on and is growing up much faster than Jessie is. Jessie shows just how unmoored and lost she feels when she again refers to her house in Los Angeles as “Rachel’s house.” She still feels no ownership over the space—and Rachel feels less approachable than Liam’s mom does at this point. In essence, Jessie feels like there’s no one to turn to right now.
Themes
