Opening
Ten days after the funeral, Tiger Tolliver claws her way out of shock into a scramble for survival, only to discover that grief doesn’t just ache—it disrupts the lights, the bills, and the ground beneath her. With Shayna Lee Franklin at her side and the memory of June Tolliver shadowing every choice, Tiger reaches for hope in a beat-up truck and stumbles into secrets, fights, and a public unraveling. The section traces the jagged arc of Grief and Loss as it morphs from numbness to action to explosion.
What Happens
Chapter 26: 10 days, 12 hours
Tiger wakes in her own bed after nearly two days of sleep, a body-level shutdown that briefly lets her believe June’s death was a bad dream—until she sees Shayna in the doorway and remembers. Shayna lays out the math with no sugar-coating: June wasn’t paying bills; the electricity is about to be cut; they may have to leave Mesa Luna. She floats moving in with friends in Boise or Portland, a plan that sounds like escape to her and exile to Tiger.
The thought of leaving her best friend, Cake Rishworth, jolts Tiger into action. She drags Shayna outside to the Jellymobile—their color-splashed jam truck—and pitches it as their lifeline. It’s money, it’s memory, it’s Mesa Luna. For the first time since June died, hope flares as Tiger imagines the truck keeping both the lights and her mother’s legacy alive.
Chapter 27: 10 days, 13 hours, 19 minutes
Shayna side-eyes the Jellymobile at first, then starts mapping how it could actually work. She jokes it would kill in Portland, rolls up her sleeves, and starts cleaning. Mid-scrub, a call from “Ray” turns her face grim. She won’t explain, but the tremor in her voice cracks the tough shell she wears.
Reaching for connection and answers, Tiger suggests calling their father in prison, a move that lands hard in the realm of Family and Found Family. Shayna erupts, refusing to “reward him for bad behavior” and snapping that she’s already here “cleaning up his mess.” The words slice Tiger, who hears herself called a mess. Shayna immediately apologizes for her “stupid quick mouth,” but the damage lingers. They coax the Jellymobile’s engine to life—loud, sputtering, stubborn—while Shayna mutters, “Blood is blood,” her rough-edged vow to stay even as old wounds burn.
(Tiger suggests calling Dustin "Dusty" Franklin, their incarcerated father, to learn more about their past.)
Chapter 28: 11 days, 12 hours
The sisters hit the road. At first, business is slow—sun, idle time, sticky jars—but then Shayna takes off, joking with customers, selling flavors they didn’t know they wanted. Tiger watches, stunned at how much Shayna’s ease with people mirrors June’s. For a moment, selling jam feels like stitching a torn family quilt back together.
That calm frays. Shayna needles Tiger about how sheltered she is, noting the quiet racism Kai Henderson likely faces. Ray’s texts keep buzzing, a reminder that Shayna’s other life—and its dangers—trail her. Even after a good day, Shayna insists on driving to Tucson to look for work, arguing they must “keep our options open.” The plan revives Tiger’s fear of being uprooted, dimming the brief glow of Resilience and Survival the Jellymobile brought.
Chapter 29: 12 days, 16 hours
With Cake by her side, the story pivots to Friendship and discovery. In June’s closet, they unearth a hatbox stacked with photos and ribbons: June as a champion equestrian, smiling in expensive gear, a Phoenix girl from a beautiful home with adoring parents, Ed and Crystal. The revelation knocks Tiger sideways. The mother she knew—secretive, broke, closed-off—once lived a bright, polished life. The gap between those lives rattles Tiger’s sense of self and accelerates her Identity and Coming of Age.
Then another blow: Tiger overhears Cake’s parents arguing. Cake turned down an elite music camp last summer because Tiger had mono, and her father thinks Tiger is holding Cake back—especially since their family has been quietly supporting Tiger and June financially. The guilt shrinks Tiger, who already feels precarious. When Shayna drives to Tucson and goes dark, Tiger spirals into abandonment panic. Shayna eventually returns, and just seeing her in the doorway releases Tiger’s breath she didn’t know she was holding.
Chapter 30: 13 days, 10 hours
At school, the pressure finally detonates. Standing at her locker in her mourning dress, Tiger becomes the target of Ellen Untermeyer and her friends. Kai is there, silent, as Ellen sneers that Tiger should “get over” her mother’s death. The words detonate months—years—of contained hurt. Tiger slaps Ellen, hard, startling even herself.
Adrenaline surges. When Kai questions her, Tiger shoves him to the floor. Mr. Jackson, the assistant principal, rushes in; Tiger fights him too until he restrains and carries her away. The hallway fight turns her private pain public, exposing how thin her coping has become and pushing her into the brutal territory of Mental Health and Coping Mechanisms.
Character Development
Grief forces every character into motion—some toward each other, some away. The Jellymobile becomes a testing ground for loyalty, truth, and the fractures left by secrets.
- Tiger Tolliver: From stunned sleep to hustling the Jellymobile, she tries to solve practical problems while emotional fault lines widen. The discovery of June’s glossy past deepens her confusion, and the hallway fight marks her breaking point as internal pain erupts outward.
- Shayna Lee Franklin: Pragmatic, sharp-tongued, and protective, she shows real warmth with customers but harbors raw anger about Dusty and a murky tie to Ray. “Blood is blood” keeps her in Mesa Luna even as she scans for exits.
- June Tolliver: Revealed, in absence, as a girl who once had privilege, parents who adored her, and a talent that shone—facts that complicate the story she later chose to live with Tiger.
- Cake Rishworth: Loyal investigator and quiet caretaker whose sacrifices (turning down music camp, family money) inject tension into the friendship and force Tiger to confront being a burden.
- Kai Henderson: His silence during Ellen’s taunts reads as betrayal to Tiger, collapsing her idealized image of him and feeding the explosion that follows.
Themes & Symbols
The section maps grief as a nonlinear, bodily experience—sleep, panic, hustle, rage—shaped by poverty, pride, and love. The Jellymobile symbolizes hope stitched to memory: it funds survival and keeps June close, yet its sputtering start matches the sisters’ shaky alliance. June’s hatbox reframes the past; parents are not biographies we fully know, and the secrets they carry alter the stories we tell about ourselves.
Family stands at the crossroads of duty and pain. “Blood is blood” is both promise and weight, binding Tiger and Shayna even as they disagree about Dusty and the future. Friendship and guilt tangle as Cake’s sacrifices surface, nudging both girls toward questions of debt and Guilt and Forgiveness. The mourning dress becomes armor Tiger isn’t ready to shed; Ellen’s cruelty weaponizes it, making the slap not just a fight but the moment Tiger’s “dark” spills into the open where everyone can see.
Key Quotes
“Blood is blood.”
Shayna justifies staying with Tiger while keeping her guard up. The phrase blends duty with defensiveness, capturing the complicated pull of family: it comforts and constricts at once.
“I’m not going to reward him for bad behavior. I’m already here cleaning up his mess.”
Shayna’s anger at Dusty bleeds into Tiger, who hears herself named as the “mess.” The line exposes inherited hurt and how easily blame ricochets inside a family.
“Keep our options open.”
Shayna’s mantra signals both savvy and instability. To Tiger, it sounds like a countdown to leaving, undercutting the fragile safety the Jellymobile brings.
“Get over it.”
Ellen’s cruelty reduces grief to a deadline, weaponizing Tiger’s mourning clothes. The phrase detonates Tiger’s restraint, turning invisible pain into visible violence.
“#griefgirl” and “#schoolfight”
As the hallway explodes, the crowd’s hashtags flatten Tiger’s human crisis into content. The social-media echo underscores isolation in an era of spectacle.
Why This Matters and Section Significance
These chapters pivot the book from aftermath to consequence. The Jellymobile gives Tiger and Shayna a way forward even as it exposes their fault lines; June’s glossy past cracks open the novel’s central mystery of who she was and why she chose secrecy. Most crucially, Tiger’s public breakdown forces the adults—and the town—to stop expecting quiet, tidy sorrow. The slap makes her grief undeniable and sets the stage for interventions, reckonings, and choices that will define where she and Shayna go next.