Eleanor and Park

Park tries to persuade Eleanor that everything will be okay by the morning but Eleanor is adamant that she has to keep running from Richie. Eleanor finally reveals to Park that Richie has been writing the terrible messages on her notebooks. Park suggests that Eleanor could stay with her dad, but she is positive that that is also a bad idea. She mentions that her uncle might be willing to “let me come up to St. Paul early” (298).

Park asks her when she has to leave and Eleanor insists that she has to go that very night. Eleanor tells Park that she plans to take the bus, but she knows that she will really have to hitchhike. Park tells her that he will drive her to her uncle’s house instead. Park knows that doing so will get him grounded, but he is willing to accept this consequence.

As the chapter opens, Eleanor feels awful about getting Park involved in her escape, but ultimately she comforts herself with the fact that Park will only get grounded and that is certainly not the worst thing that could happen. Eleanor starts worrying about whether or not her plan for going to St. Paul will succeed, and she fears that Maisie may have already told Richie about her relationship with Park.

The narrative cuts to Park, who is collecting all of the money he has saved from recent holidays. Before leaving to drive Eleanor to St. Paul, Park scribbles a message to his parents that says he has gone to help Eleanor and that he will be back shortly. As he is sneaking out of his house, Park is caught by his father and Park tells him everything. After he finishes explaining the situation, Park is surprised to hear his dad say “I don’t have a better [plan]” (304). His dad hands him some money and tells Park to bring Eleanor back to their house if the St. Paul plan does not work out.

Park’s dad says that he has only one condition before he will let Park go on his way, and Park is surprised to hear his father request that he takes the family’s stick shift truck. The chapter ends as Park’s father watches him pull out into the street and drive off to help Eleanor.

On the way to St. Paul, Park pulls over at a gas station and goes to get some snacks and a map. When he comes back to the car, he is angry to find Eleanor sleeping during what will be their last time together. He watches her sleep and thinks about how she went from being a total stranger to being the only person that he passionately cares about. Later in the night, he pulls over in order to get some rest and cries himself to sleep.

Eleanor wakes up and realizes that she has been sleeping in Park’s arms. Park wakes up and the two begin kissing and caressing each other. This goes on for some time before Park says that he doesn’t have a condom so they cannot continue. Eleanor says that she does not care if he has one, but Park is adamant that they stop because he says he wants to move forward believing this will not be their last opportunity to have sex. Park tells Eleanor, “I need you to believe it, too” (310).

After stopping their romantic session, Park gets out of the car to go use the restroom. He returns to find Eleanor sitting on his truck looking as beautiful as ever. He approaches her and they lean in to each other. Eleanor asks Park if he thinks they will ever have another chance to have sex and Park states that he does. Eleanor responds that she cannot and will not ever return to Omaha for any reason; Park simply replies that he loves her.

They get back in the car and continue on their way to St. Paul. Later, Park pulls over yet again and calls his parents to update them on their progress. Park asks Eleanor whether or not she wants to call her uncle, but she says she is not interested. The chapter closes with Park telling Eleanor that they are getting closer to St. Paul.

As they arrive in St. Paul, Park is intimidated by the traffic of such a big city and he becomes increasingly anxious as they approach Eleanor’s uncle’s house. Eleanor remarks that she wants Park to say in the car when they arrive at their destination. If Park leaves immediately, her uncle will have no choice but to let her stay. Park is devastated at the prospect and would do anything for this not to be their final goodbye.

They pull into Eleanor’s uncle’s neighborhood and Park parks the truck down the street so that they can exchange their final goodbyes. They tell each other that they will call and write to one another as often as possible and they console one another by saying everything will turn out okay. They exchange a difficult goodbye and then Park whispers “I love you” (318) as Eleanor walks up to the front door of her uncle’s house.

Several months have passed since Eleanor left for St Paul. Park has been given his own car by his parents and he no longer has to ride the bus to school. In the time since Eleanor left, Park has been extremely depressed and has spent a lot of time alone simply thinking about the things they used to do together. Park now feels that classes and schoolwork are meaningless.

The narrative switches to Eleanor’s point-of-view. Like Park, she no longer takes the bus to school, but is driven there by her uncle. Her uncle has already retrieved her belongings from Richie’s house. In the meantime, he is nice enough to have bought her new furniture, cassettes, clothes, and a stereo. Eleanor is upset by the fact that all the kids at her new school are white. 

Park is deeply upset that Eleanor has not called or written to him since they said their goodbyes in St. Paul. After Park dropped Eleanor off, he stopped at the first gas station that he came to and bought a postcard for her. Once he got back to his house the first thing, he did was write her a letter on the postcard.

The narrative cuts back to Eleanor’s point-of-view, specifically to the moment when she first knocked on her uncle’s door. When her aunt answers the door, Eleanor is crying and it’s all she can do to mutter that no one has died. Once inside, she explains what has been happening with Richie and her mother. Eleanor lies down to go to sleep for the night and she hears her aunt and uncle talking about Eleanor’s claims. “What if she’s not telling the truth” (322), her aunt wonders. The next day, Eleanor spends the morning writing her a mom a letter telling her exactly how she feels about the past few years. Eleanor tells her mom that she will call the police on Richie if she hears about anything bad happening.

Eleanor considers calling Park, but ultimately she decides against it because she sees no point in doing so if the two are never going to get married. The chapter ends with Eleanor talking to her new friend Dani, who asks Eleanor if she has ever kissed another person before. Eleanor lies and says that she has not.

This chapter opens with Eleanor looking over the packages and letters that Park has been sending. Sadly, she cannot bring herself to open them, and every time she begins to write to him, she simply throws away her letter. Park occasionally walks by Eleanor’s old house and sees Richie’s truck there. He continues to write Eleanor letters, even though she never responds. 

As time progresses, Park continues to think about Eleanor but he realizes his memories of her are becoming much less clear. Park stops by Eleanor’s old house one day just as Richie is getting out of his truck. Richie is extremely drunk and screams at Park, and Park is completely transfixed by the idea of killing him. Richie walks towards Park but he stumbles and falls over; Park kicks a large clump of mud into Richie’s mouth and walks away.

Eleanor notices that Park’s letters have stopped, but she still refuses to read the ones that he has sent. 

In the final chapter of the book, Park ends up going to prom with a girl named Cat, whom he works with. They hold hands during the dance and Park ends up kissing her and he thinks about how good it feels to kiss someone again. The next day Park wakes up to his dad handing him a letter: it’s from Eleanor. The chapter, and book, closes with the narrative stating that her message was “Just three words long” (329) but without specifying what those three words are. However, readers can infer from the passage that the message is “I love you.” With this, the book ends.