Character Analysis
Jenny Flick is described like some kind of cliché of a troubled teenager that you'd find on a television show—she wears lots of black, too much eyeliner, smokes, and sexually propositions boys without prelude:
Jenny Flick was leaning back in her chair with her feet on the desk. She wore a pair of soft leather construction boots, tight jeans, and a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt, and was chewing gum and blowing bubbles. (3.10.2)
At first Charlie bonds with her because they both come from troubled family backgrounds. They have parents who aren't great and don't seem to care that much about them, and they both respond by trying to be different from the other kids. Seems all right, right? Not so fast.
The thing is, that even though Jenny has a vulnerable side that she reveals to Charlie, she also has a serious mean streak. She develops a hatred for Vera (out of jealousy) and turns Charlie against the only person who's always been there to support him (that would be Vera). And when Charlie breaks up with Jenny, she gets ruthless. She decides to burn down the pet shop and kill Charlie. As Charlie tells Vera:
"Jenny's crazy," he said before I could climb back into my Parliament funk spaceship. "I broke up with her, and now she's crazy—like she's either going to kill herself or kill me or… I don't know. Something crazy." (5.5.7)
While Jenny doesn't kill Charlie, she does burn down the pet shop (with all the animals still inside) and frame him for it. There's a real darkness to this girl, and it takes Vera most of the book to step up and right some of Jenny's wrongs by clearing Charlie's name.