This Is How It Always Is: Part IV: After Summary & Analysis

Poppy isn’t sure that coming back to school during the Valentine’s Day dance is the best decision, but that is exactly what she is doing. Aggie still won’t talk to her, but Natalie and Kim say they always knew who Poppy really was, even if Poppy didn’t tell them exactly. Standing with Kim and Natalie in the gymnasium decorated with hearts and streamers but still smelling of socks, Poppy feels almost brave. A few people walk by and say hi, and then Jake Irving approaches. He says hello and asks if Poppy ever got his text (he sent a text apologizing for the whole “dick” comment and said Marnie made him do it). Poppy says she got it, and Jake apologizes again.

Jake asks Poppy if she wants to dance. He looks at the dance floor and tells her they will probably be the best dancers out there, and Poppy can’t say no. She “regular-dances” with Jake, and he asks her about Thailand. She tells him she taught English to little kids, and Jake says that is because she is “smart” and “nice.” Jake might be smart, he says, but he isn’t nice. At least, he wasn’t nice to Poppy, he says, but he is very, very sorry. Poppy says she knows, and Jake asks how. “You asked me to dance,” Poppy says.

Rosie and Penn never intended to dance when they agreed to chaperone the dance, but they never thought they would see Poppy dancing either, so they decide to go for it. Dancing together, Rosie tells Penn that she is very proud of him and always knew this day would come. She asks what made him finally write down the Grumwald story, and Penn says it was just time. They have always lived a fairy tale, Penn says. Their “perfect love story” is like magic, but there must be room for transformation to have “happily-ever-after.”

They can’t avoid change, Penn tells Rosie, and keep Poppy a secret. Penn had to write Grumwald down so people can read Poppy’s story, and “it can grow.” Rosie says Penn’s explanation is beautiful, but it doesn’t answer the real question. “Boy or girl or in between?” Rosie asks, “Blockers or puberty? Surgery or hormones?” Penn admits the story doesn’t answer the question, but it builds a place to start from and find the answers. Rosie looks at Poppy. She can’t believe Poppy danced, but Penn can. “Happy middles,” he says, are better than “happy endings.”

Poppy walks out of the bathroom stall to find Aggie standing by the sinks. “Hi,” Aggie says. “Hi,” Poppy says. They make small talk, and Aggie asks about Thailand, and then she asks if Poppy is supposed to be in the girls’ bathroom. The principal said she could use the girls’ bathroom way back in the first grade, Poppy says. See, Aggie says, Poppy told the principal but not her. Poppy says her parents told the principal, but that isn’t the point.

The point for Aggie is that she can’t be Poppy’s best friend now that everything has changed. Poppy says nothing has changed, and that she is the same person she has always been, but to Aggie, “everything’s changed.” They can’t have sleepovers, or be “rival princesses.” Yes, they can, Poppy says. Aggie asks Poppy if she is a girl or a boy. Poppy says she is both, and neither, and something else, too, even though she doesn’t know what that is. “It’s complicated,” Poppy says, “I’m kind of a weirdo.” Aggie smiles. They are too old to be princesses, Aggie says. They can be “rival weirdos” instead. 

Back at the house, Penn and Rosie watch their kids talk loudly and excitedly. Orion and Rigel can’t believe Penn and Rosie danced. Yuck, they say. Roo tells everyone an embarrassing story about Ben at the eighth-grade dance, which sparks a series of embarrassing stories that they now laugh at all over again. Rosie smiles at Penn. This is what it is all about. Family and togetherness and happiness. They can move away—they will move away—and the kids will change into adults and seem like different people, but it is all part of their story. Rosie tells Penn that they get a happy ending after all, but Penn tells her this isn’t the end. “Not even close,” he says.