Eleanor and Park: Chapter 48 Summary & Analysis

Memories of Richie’s filthy notes on her textbooks flash through Eleanor’s head as she quickly packs her backpack, climbs out the window, and runs down the street. She is halfway to Park’s house when she hears a voice call out to her. She turns around and realizes she is in front of Steve’s house—the garage door is open, and Tina is standing in the driveway. Tina tells Eleanor that Richie has been out driving around looking for her all night.

Eleanor continues to have horrible flashes of the notes Richie has been leaving her. Tina asks Eleanor what’s wrong, and invites her inside to “stay out of [Richie’s] way until he cools off.” Eleanor follows Tina into the garage, where Steve and a couple other kids from school are drinking, smoking, and listening to music on a futon. Steve asks Eleanor if she wants him to “kill” her stepdad for her—he’s already planning, he says, to kill Tina’s terrible stepdad. Tina shoves a beer into Eleanor’s hand, and Eleanor drinks some of it. Eleanor closes her eyes and tries to calm down, but as she has more flashes of the notes, she grows paranoid and anxious. She tells Tina and Steve that she needs to find Park.

Meanwhile, Park is having trouble sleeping. He is “torture[d]” by sweet memories of kissing and touching Eleanor, and wonders when the next time they’ll get to be alone will be. He hears a voice and a knock at his window, and is surprised to look out and see Steve hanging from the window ledge. Park opens the window and leans out—and is even more shocked to find Eleanor standing with Steve and Tina on the lawn, holding a beer.

Eleanor watches as Park climbs through the window, jumps down to the ground, and runs towards her to embrace her. As soon as his arms are around her, Eleanor starts to cry. Park asks her if she’s bleeding, and Eleanor notices that she is—her hand is cut where she touched broken glass on her bed. Eleanor sees a car approaching on the street, and she, Park, Tina, and Steve all scurry back into Steve’s garage.

Inside the garage, Park struggles to understand what’s going on. He asks Eleanor to tell him what has happened, but Tina answers for her, and says that her stepfather is out looking for her. Eleanor tells Park she has to leave. Park grabs Eleanor’s hand and leads her through his yard towards his grandparents’ RV. He ushers her inside, sits her down at the small dining table inside, and asks her to tell him what’s going on. Eleanor repeats only that she has to “leave.” Park asks Eleanor to explain further—Eleanor takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and tells Park everything. When she’s finished, Park suggests that maybe Richie is just trying to scare Eleanor, and wouldn’t hurt her after all—but Eleanor retorts that Park has never seen the way Richie looks at her.