To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Fiction | Novel | YA

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Chapters 29-34

Chapter 29 Summary

Lara Jean joins Peter at the school football game. She is generally disinterested, and when Peter invites her to hang out at a friend’s house after, she says she’s tired and would prefer to go home but stop at her favorite diner after the game. Lara Jean points out that Peter always rolls his eyes when Josh comes up, as though he doesn’t like him. Peter tells her that in seventh grade Josh turned him in for cheating on a Spanish quiz. Peter is not very interested in school, confident that he’ll get to college through a lacrosse scholarship. Lara Jean mentions that Peter seems to treat everything like a joke, which is a character flaw of his. Peter retorts that being judgey is Lara Jean’s character flaw. Lara Jean tells Peter about her letter for John Ambrose McClaren, a former friend of theirs. Later that night, Lara Jean plays the what-if game in her head about John. She imagines what her life would be like if she and John Ambrose McClaren had gotten together before he moved away.

Chapter 30 Summary

On Saturday, Lara Jean talks to Margot on the phone. Margot asks her if she’s applied for a Springtime internship, but Lara Jean hasn’t. Junior year is a critical time for Lara Jean to be proactive about her future, and Margot is concerned that Lara Jean will let good opportunities pass her by. Lara Jean feels anxious under the pressure of her future (and, of course, the secrets she is keeping from Margot). Margot asks about Josh, and Lara Jean says she hasn’t talked to him lately, which actually is the truth.

Chapter 31 Summary

Peter gives Kitty a ride to school again with Lara Jean, and this time, Josh sees them. Kitty and Lara Jean laugh about their neighbor who spills coffee all over herself, so Peter teaches Kitty the word “sadistic.” He asks to try Kitty’s yogurt drink and enjoys it. It’s a Korean drink, and he asks Lara Jean to bring him one. Kitty tells him she’ll bring him one if he keeps driving her to school.

Chapter 32 Summary

Lara Jean is at her locker when Lucas Krapf walks over with her letter in his hands. Lucas feels honored by the letter and assures Lara Jean that she doesn’t need to explain it. He tells Lara Jean that he’s gay but asks her not to spread it around. Lucas isn’t trying to hide it, but he’s also not interested in explaining himself to people. Lucas says to Lara Jean, “I just let people believe what they please. I don’t feel like it’s my responsibility to quantify myself for them […] As a biracial person, I’m sure people are always asking you what race you are, right?’” (156). Lara Jean is so pleased to have this kind and open conversation with Lucas, who says all the right things.

Chapter 33 Summary

Chris and Lara Jean hang out in Lara Jean’s room. Chris asks Lara Jean how far she’s gone with Peter, but Lara Jean tells her the Song girls are not like that. Chris retorts that she is certain Margot and Josh have had sex, but Lara Jean denies it. She doesn’t tell Chris about her pact with Margot: That they won’t have sex until they’re married or very in love and at least 21 years old. Lara Jean is confident that her sister wouldn’t betray a pact. Chris tells Lara Jean she needs to take sex less seriously, and Lara Jean wonders what it would be like to be so close to someone else.

Chapter 34 Summary

In the library, Lara Jean asks Peter if he thinks that teenagers who date long-term must certainly have had sex. Peter says it depends on the two people involved, and when she tells him Chris’s opinion, Peter calls Chris a train wreck. Peter is surprised that Chris and Lara Jean are friends since they’re so different, but then again so are Lara Jean and Peter.

Chapters 29-34 Analysis

The diner Lara Jean and Peter go to in Chapter 29 is one that she used to frequent with Josh and Margot, a poignant reminder to Lara Jean and to the reader that Lara Jean’s whole life is now so different. Lara Jean feels comfortable sharing intimate spaces with Peter, such as the car rides with her sister and the diner. Han uses these spaces to imply that Lara Jean and Peter are getting along well, and that their friendship is genuine even if their romantic relationship is fraudulent. Furthermore, when Lucas confronts her about the letter but proves to be kind and open, even thankful about it, Lara Jean reconnects with someone she always wanted to know. Lara Jean is seizing new opportunities.

When Lucas and Lara Jean discuss her letter, Lucas’s ability to identify himself without external pressure impresses her. In earlier chapters, Lara Jean desired more friends, and here she is having a moment of recognition and understanding with Lucas. Ironically, Lara Jean always meant these letters to be a secret, but their release into the world actually brings her more friends than rejection.

These positive experiences don’t negate the stresses of being in a fake relationship, however. First, Kitty is getting more interested in Peter as a person. Their car rides together are filled with fun banter, which would bring Lara Jean joy if Peter actually was her boyfriend. With these car rides, Han foreshadows future problems: The more Kitty likes Peter, the more complicated Lara Jean’s breakup with her fake boyfriend will be. Secondly, Lara Jean still can’t help but compare herself to others, such as the adventurous Chris. The third experience Lara Jean struggles to understand is Chris’s assertion that Margot and Josh must have had sex. The Song girls have a pact to wait until marriage or true love at 21 years old, but Chris makes Lara Jean doubt her deeply held belief that sisters don’t break pacts.

It is again striking to see how little the sisters really do know about one another. If Margot and Lara Jean were truly best friends, the conversation about sex with Josh would likely have come up. Han suggests that it is possible Lara Jean is misunderstanding her relationship with her sister: Margot is forging her own life and protects Lara Jean from issues she’d rather keep private. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it does highlight Lara Jean’s character development into a young woman who must forge her own life.