Eleanor
- Eleanor goes to Park's the next day. She gives him his Christmas present right away, which is an old edition of The Catcher in the Rye.
- She's written an inscription in it, but we don't get to find out what it is. Park gives her two presents, one from his mom—perfume he asks her not to wear—and from him, something he hopes no one will notice but Eleanor: a silver necklace with a pendant in the shape of a pansy.
- "I'll understand if you can't take it" (34.29), he says, but Eleanor really wants it.
Park
- Park's nervous about the necklace. He spent most of the money he'd been saving for a car stereo on it, and he thinks she won't take it.
- She does, though, and he fastens it around her neck, feeling like he wants to "pull on the chain, to pull it into his chest and anchor her there" (34.40).
Eleanor
- Eleanor plays cards with Park in his kitchen, and chats with his mom; she tells Park's mom that her mom is Danish, and Park is surprised to find out.
- Eleanor's been thinking about Park's request that they be "totally open and honest with each other" (34.58), but she's still worried about sharing the gory details of her family life with him. So she doesn't tell Park the entire truth about her family's Christmas, instead she just mentions her mom's cookies and the movies they watched.
- Eleanor spends the rest of vacation at Park's house, though her mom thinks she's at Tina's house. Eleanor's mom offers to have Tina come over, but they both know Eleanor can't have friends over: "Nobody brought friends into their house" (34.67).
- Eleanor remembers that when her parents were still together, they always had lots of people at their house; there were parties all the time. She remembers that after her dad left, her mom's friends still came over.
- And then Richie happened. Richie would see her mom walking to the grocery store on his drive to work, and stopped to ask for her number one day. She remembers her mom talking about how Richie said, "she was as pretty as a spring day" (34.75).
- Eleanor was twelve at the time, and remembers thinking that no one could do worse by her mom than he dad already had. "She didn't know there were things worse than selfish" (34.78) yet.
- Staying at Park's house so much has messed with Eleanor's bath routine—because of Richie, there's only one safe time for Eleanor to take a bath in the house, and that's when he's not around.
- Tina mouths an insult at Eleanor when they're at school. DeNice and Beebi rally and try to make Eleanor feel better, and they talk about how cute Park is.
Park
- Cal asks Park about Eleanor, saying, "Everybody knows" (34.99). Cal wonders why Park hasn't told him, and Park says he didn't think Cal would understand.
- Cal insists that Park spill the details if he and Eleanor are sleeping together, which Park responds to by saying that this is exactly why he hasn't talked to Cal about Eleanor this whole time.