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
The next morning, Jessie messages SN three things, all of which have to do with being hung over. SN messages back that he’s been up for a while, but his mom is still asleep. They discuss that SN’s parents don’t want him to have a job—they’d prefer that he study—and Jessie shares that she works at Book Out Below! She suggests that SN visit. A bit later, Scarlett texts to announce that she didn’t have sex after homecoming, but Adam has turned into an exceptional kisser.
It’s significant that Jessie decides to text SN before she texts Scarlett in the morning, as it implies that Jessie is starting to pull away from Scarlett. Indeed, because Jessie doesn’t text and ask Scarlett how homecoming was, Scarlett likely feels a bit abandoned and unimportant. Despite this, she still desperately wants to share what happened with her best friend.
Themes
When Jessie gets downstairs, she finds Dad in the kitchen making pancakes. He’s annoyingly cheerful and looks out of place—Mom always cooked, and the kitchen here seems too big and pristine to use. Jessie accepts a plate as to not feed any suspicions about her drinking, but she doesn’t ask if his happiness is genuine and if they’re staying. Dad says they need to talk. Jessie figures this is it: he and Rachel are divorcing and they’re headed back to Chicago. When Dad simply expresses his surprise that she has friends, Jessie asks if they’re leaving. Dad looks genuinely surprised, and when Jessie brings up his fight with Rachel, he says it was just an argument. He sighs that he forgets Jessie is a teenager and that everything seems more important at her age.
Though Dad isn’t entirely wrong in his assessment (Jessie is a teen and therefore lacks the experience and maturity to fully grasp what happened between Dad and Rachel), his assessment doesn’t capture the whole story. Dad hasn’t gone out of his way to make sure that Jessie feels secure at home, and Rachel has barely acknowledged Jessie since the fight. Because of this, it’s understandable that Jessie is so afraid—she’s never seen adults fight like this before, and given how little she trusts the adults who control her life, there’s no reason not to jump to the worst conclusion.
Themes
Jessie knows she’s acting like a stereotypical teenager, but she spits that Dad shouldn’t be condescending. She shouts that she heard “her” tell Dad to leave and not come back. Dad responds that “her” name is Rachel, and he asks if Jessie wants to leave. Jessie doesn’t—but she doesn’t want to feel like a guest in someone’s home, either. Even more than that, she wants to hurt Dad right now. She drops it and asks what Dad wanted to talk about, but when Dad says he just wants to check in, Jessie loses it again. She accuses Dad of ignoring her and climbs the stairs two at a time.
Neither Dad nor Rachel have done much to make Jessie feel at home; she’s still sleeping in a guest room, after all, and no one pays her much attention. Her anger and fear, in this case, are totally justified. However, the fact that Jessie doesn’t really want to leave also shows that she’s beginning to feel more at home in Los Angeles—largely because of the friends she has at school—even if she doesn’t feel at home in this house.
Themes
At Book Out Below! later, Caleb walks in. Jessie gasps in surprise; this is the first time that a classmate has come here—and Caleb arrived right after Jessie told SN about her job. Rather than feeling disappointed that Caleb is SN, Jessie feels disoriented. He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to talk like SN, but she figures he felt bad for her on the first day of school. He asks if Liam is here; Liam has his phone. As Caleb turns to leave, Jessie decides she has to let him know she knows he’s SN, so she invites him to have coffee. He accepts awkwardly. Later, Jessie tells SN that it was nice of him to visit. He seems confused. Jessie is annoyed since apparently, they’re going to pretend they never spoke.
Caleb is dismissive and awkward with Jessie, while SN is kind, open, and interested in her. It’s possible, then, that Jessie is only jumping on the idea that Caleb is SN because she’s so desperate to figure out who he is—and she’s therefore unwilling to critically look at the evidence in front of her and see that Caleb isn’t acting at all like SN.
Themes
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