52 pages • 1 hour read
Julie BuxbaumTell Me Three Things
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 10-13
Chapter 10 Summary
Jessie goes around town looking for a part-time job to no avail. Her last effort is at a small local bookshop, a place that instantly brings her comfort. The owner is impressed by the books Jessie is currently reading, and Jessie tries to sell herself as an ideal employee. She agrees to hire Jessie if her son, Liam Sandler (a senior at Wood Valley), agrees to give up some of his hours. While Jessie leaves, excitedly texting Scar about the job opportunity, she accidentally bumps into Liam's guitar case, which knocks her down. He helps her up, and she recognizes him as one of the boys she saw on the first day of school. They chat, and he is grateful that she wants to work, as he wants to spend more time at band rehearsal. Jessie returns home with the good news of getting the job, excitedly telling Theo. Rachel pops into Theo's room, hearing the excited commotion, but Jessie does not want to share her news and is reluctant to form any type of relationship with Rachel.
Chapter 11 Summary
Ethan messages Jessie to set up a meeting so they can start their English project and tries to stifle her crush on him by being self-deprecating. Meanwhile, she chats with Scar, who updates her on her new friendships in Chicago. SN shares with Jessie that his mom is going through “a tough time,” and Jessie sympathizes.
At school, Jessie sits with Dri and her friend Agnes at lunch. She considers the vast differences between the social hierarchies at her old school and Wood Valley, identifying herself in the “worker bee” clique. Jessie considers telling her new friends about SN, but she decides against it, thinking the anonymity is what keeps them connected and honest with each other. Liam approaches Jessie at their table, checking in about her scheduled training at the bookstore. Dri, who has a major crush on Liam (even though he is dating Gem), is beside herself as he leaves, excited that she has a new connection to him through Jessie.
At the end of the school day, SN checks in with Jessie about her day. Jessie shares that she has a stepfamily now, which she refers to as “the Others,” and SN tells her his parents' relationship is tenuous. He reassures her that one day they will be able to share more details of their lives with each other.
Chapter 12 Summary
Dri wants Jessie to share every detail of her interactions with Liam while she has her first shift at the bookstore. Jessie asks Liam about his band, Orgasmville (Oville), and he jokingly compares himself to Lou Reed. She thinks about how nervous sex makes her feel and admits to herself: “the thought of that sort of exposure seems unimaginable, and mostly, if I’m totally honest, nothing short of terrifying” (98). They continue to make small talk, and Liam wants to introduce her to Gem, unaware that she regularly taunts Jessie in class. He shares that he only recently joined the band, and even though it was difficult for him to be the new member after a “whole crazy thing,” he insists his bandmates are now like his brothers. Through texts, Dri confirms that there was “Oville drama for a while,” “[a] sad story” (100) but does not elaborate. Liam invites Jessie to watch the band play at Gem's upcoming party, and though Jessie does not want to go, Dri is adamant about attending.
Chapter 13 Summary
Jessie meets Ethan at the library to start discussing “The Waste Land,” and she quickly gets lost in thought imagining what his life is like. She notices that he is “there but not there” (104), an absence she can recognize feeling herself. They delve into the confusing, dense text of the poem, but then Ethan suggests they discuss while walking because walking “wakes him up” (105). He wants to know more about her, but she deflects, not wanting to share her true thoughts about her dead mother and her crush on him. He shares that he reads poetry when he cannot sleep, which is why he has most of “The Waste Land” memorized.
That evening, Jessie chats with SN, and asks him to tell her 3 things she does not yet know about him. They share back and forth, and SN admits that it is easier for him to talk to her online than in person. He also shares that a year ago he “was a totally different person” (112), before his sister suddenly died. He asks about her mom, and they discover that they both count the time that has passed since their loved ones died. At one point, Jessie is messaging SN, Liam, Ethan, and Scarlett simultaneously, and she feels a surge of self-confidence that she is chatting with 4 people at once, “proof that maybe [she's] starting to have something resembling a life again” (119).
Chapters 10-13 Analysis
Jessie continues to build up her new life in LA, and the job she gets at Book Out Below! becomes a haven for her. Mrs. Sandler is by no means a stand-in for Jessie’s mother, but she provides a soft, maternal comfort in a place that reminds Jessie so much of her mom. Jessie knows that her bookishness does not necessarily make her popular at school, but it is the perfect trait for her to secure a job at a place she loves and feels comfortable in. Her characteristic smarts that set her apart at FDR are no longer remarkable at Wood Valley, where everyone is exceptionally intelligent and motivated. Fearing invisibility, Jessie hopes “that one day [she] will be discovered—that [she] will actually be seen” for who she is, which her relationship with SN will later fulfill (88).
Jessie asks SN to “tell [her] three things” about himself, which evolves into a daily ritual for them (108). What starts as a way for them to share their likes and dislikes turns into a way for them to share their most confidential secrets. SN reveals that his sister died (a detail that later turns out to be a lie), and that he too counts the days that have passed—this deeply personal habit suddenly connects Jessie and SN on a much more profound level. For so long they have each felt isolated in their grief, but they have finally found the one other person at Wood Valley who genuinely understands what they are going through.
Jessie interprets the beautiful rainbow she sees on the way to work one afternoon as a sign from her mother, implying that Jessie will remain connected to her mother no matter where she might live. This is a significant point in her character development, as she becomes more grounded in her current life instead of pining after her old one.
Jessie’s favorite word is “waffle,” because of its double meaning: it is both a breakfast food and a verb, meaning to “speak or write equivocally” (87). Jessie finds herself in a very equivocal, or uncertain, period of her life, stuck between the old life she left in Chicago and the new one she is reluctant to start in LA. Chapter 13 ends with the first glimpses that Jessie’s life is returning to a state of normalcy; chatting with Liam (who has entered her life on account of her job at the bookstore), Scar, and Ethan/SN is proof that she does not have to face her equivocal life on her own.
