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Chapter 26
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
As the plane takes off, Jessie thinks about how Scarlett will pick her up in four hours. They’ll eat pizza and share inside jokes. Jessie will tell Scarlett about all her drama, and Scarlett will give Jessie soothing advice. Jessie will feel like she’s home and she begins to cry at the thought. Later, in the car with Scarlett, Jessie thinks that Scarlett looks different. She has a new haircut and when she speaks, there’s an edge to her voice. She also seems to focus too intently on the road as she says that she only recently realized how much time she and Jessie used to spend together. They stop for pizza and Jessie shares everything, expecting advice. Scarlett, however, says this sounds like “high-class problems.” She looks Jessie up and down and says Jessie is overthinking things.
When Jessie talks about how things are going to play out with Scarlett, it all focuses on what Scarlett is going to do for Jessie. Scarlett is going to listen and give Jessie advice—but there’s no mention of what Jessie might do for Scarlett. Indeed, Scarlett clearly doesn’t appreciate Jessie’s implication that only Jessie’s life matters. Indeed, Scarlett seems uninterested in actually listening to Jessie. Though this is understandably hurtful to Jessie, it’s also justified—Jessie has done a poor job of listening to Scarlett since she moved away.
Themes
Scarlett interrupts Jessie’s sputtering to say that Adam and Deena are coming over later. She says that Deena isn’t so bad, but Jessie doesn’t believe it: Jessie has hated Deena for years, ever since Deena tried to cause problems between Jessie and Scarlett. Scarlett puts her drink down and says that this has been hard for her, too. She also had to make new friends. Jessie realizes suddenly that Scarlett had to start over in Jessie’s absence. Jessie apologizes for not having thought about it, but Scarlett angrily snaps back. Tears fill Scarlett’s eyes and Jessie wants to be anywhere but here. She wants to message SN, but she thinks of how he turned her down yesterday. Scarlett tells Jessie to forget about it and throws her pizza away, uneaten.
Finally, Jessie has to contend with the fact that she effectively abandoned Scarlett and left her to figure out life alone. And in Jessie’s absence, Scarlett has had to make questionable choices about who she hangs out with, like inviting Deena into her inner circle. When Jessie feels like she wants to be anywhere else, it makes it clear that Chicago itself isn’t home—being with Scarlett, on good terms and in the same way they used to be, is what makes this place home. And because of the way SN/Caleb treated Jessie yesterday, Los Angeles doesn’t feel like home right now either.
Themes
Later, Scarlett sits with Adam as Deena whispers in Scarlett’s ear as though to broadcast that they’re best friends now. Deena’s brother Joe brought beer, and Adam’s friend Toby is here as well. Jessie thinks that everyone looks different but exactly the same. Adam looks like someone worth dating, while Deena seems older. Toby asks about L.A. and Jessie tries to downplay Rachel’s house for Scarlett’s benefit. Jessie is shocked to realize that Toby has a Chicago accent and wonders if she sounds weird to everyone at Wood Valley. She wonders if Scarlett thought Jessie was bragging whenever she described Wood Valley. Jessie would rather watch Netflix with Scarlett than eat fancy hamburgers any day.
Picking up on Toby’s accent means that Jessie has spent enough time in Los Angeles to forget how people speak in Chicago—another indicator that in many ways, Los Angeles is now more of a home to her than Chicago is. Indeed, nothing about this gathering makes sense to Jessie. She’s the uncomfortable and unwilling center of attention, and Deena, Joe, and Toby are all new additions to the girls’ circle. This is a normal part of growing up—but it doesn’t mean that it’s any easier for Jessie to swallow.
Themes
Jessie thinks of her new friends and whether they’d fit in in Chicago. She thinks that Dri, Agnes, and maybe Caleb would be fine, but Ethan would struggle since he’s more like Jessie. Jessie continues to drink and by the time she’s drunk, Scarlett and Adam are in the laundry room with the door closed. They’re clearly having sex. Jessie wonders if Scarlett has talked with Deena about sex, since Jessie can’t provide any advice in that area. Deena and Toby kiss on the couch, right where Jessie fantasized about sleeping if she moved back, as Joe tries desperately to engage Jessie in conversation.
Even though Jessie has been willing to talk about sex with Agnes and Dri, she hasn’t been as open or curious about Scarlett’s experimentations with Adam. This emphasizes that it’s not that Jessie is inexperienced; it’s that she hasn’t acted interested in this part of Scarlett’s life.
Themes
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Jessie takes out her phone to message SN and says she’s drunk and feels alone. She calls him out for refusing to have coffee with her and starts to cry, which makes Joe give up. Jessie insists she knows who SN is. SN suggests they talk later when Jessie is sober. Jessie runs upstairs, throws up, and doesn’t feel comforted at all by the familiar shower curtain or soap dispenser in Scarlett’s bathroom.
Not feeling safe or at home in the upstairs bathroom makes it clear that the place itself doesn’t mean this is home. Jessie feels totally unmoored and alone, and it’s likely she’d feel that way with or without the alcohol in her system. She feels unmoored because she’s at odds with both SN and Scarlett—the two people who make her feel loved and whole.
Themes
