It’s interesting to go back to Chapter 1 and read the whole way through now, knowing what has happened, because honestly, you can look at everything laid out and know: Jenna did not start out bad. Was she kind of bossy and self-absorbed? Yeah. But she also was cool about Jordie bringing Beth places, tried to empathize with Beth’s situation when she was strung out on Adderall and stumbled into the deer stand. Aside from the incident where she told Beth off about Bryan being gay–which she isn’t wrong about, and was doing it with good intentions–Jenna was never outright shitty to Beth.
Which is interesting, because then we see Jenna through the lens of Jordie confiding in Beth everything bad about her, and yeah, Jenna got worse–way worse–between Chapters 1 and 3. But we also have to remember that Beth has had a crush on Jordie since Chapter 1, so yeah, she’s a bit invested on him getting rid of her and forgetting about her.
I just find the nuances of it all really realistic and compelling. I hope the best for Jenna, genuinely. I’m sorry Jordie’s going through what he’s going through too.
The worst thing is being the friend that sees how shitty the relationship is, knowing it won’t get better, knowing it’s awful, telling them, trying not to come off as jealous or hateful, then watching things crash and burn. And to be supportive and not come off as “Yeah, told you so”.
It’s interesting to go back to Chapter 1 and read the whole way through now, knowing what has happened, because honestly, you can look at everything laid out and know: Jenna did not start out bad. Was she kind of bossy and self-absorbed? Yeah. But she also was cool about Jordie bringing Beth places, tried to empathize with Beth’s situation when she was strung out on Adderall and stumbled into the deer stand. Aside from the incident where she told Beth off about Bryan being gay–which she isn’t wrong about, and was doing it with good intentions–Jenna was never outright shitty to Beth.
Which is interesting, because then we see Jenna through the lens of Jordie confiding in Beth everything bad about her, and yeah, Jenna got worse–way worse–between Chapters 1 and 3. But we also have to remember that Beth has had a crush on Jordie since Chapter 1, so yeah, she’s a bit invested on him getting rid of her and forgetting about her.
I just find the nuances of it all really realistic and compelling. I hope the best for Jenna, genuinely. I’m sorry Jordie’s going through what he’s going through too.
The worst thing is being the friend that sees how shitty the relationship is, knowing it won’t get better, knowing it’s awful, telling them, trying not to come off as jealous or hateful, then watching things crash and burn. And to be supportive and not come off as “Yeah, told you so”.