60 pages • 2-hour read
How to Make Friends with the Dark
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Part 2, Chapters 31-42Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “After”
Part 2, Chapter 31 Summary: “8 Days, 17 Hours”
Content Warning: This section discusses themes of grief, parental loss, and trauma. It also mentions underage drinking, suicide, and panic attacks.
Tiger learns that Shayna’s car broke down in Utah, where she was visiting some friends, and she had to take a bus from there to Tucson. Their initial interactions are awkward and stilted, and as she says her goodbyes to everyone at LaLa’s, Tiger wonders if Shayna will be able to care for her.
Karen drives Shayna and Tiger first to a grocery store and then to the house Tiger lived in with June. A food card has been set up for them temporarily, and after the paperwork is done, they will be eligible for benefits. A case worker will be by for home visits over the next few weeks, and Karen suggests that both sisters would also benefit from counseling. Tiger learns that Shayna had come because Dustin asked her to save Tiger from the foster care system. Shayna also reveals that June and Dustin’s affair blew up Shayna and her mother’s lives; Tiger thinks that Shayna probably hates her.
Shayna spots the dirty running water in the house, and despite Tiger’s assertions that the landlord, Pacheco, will not help, Shayna expertly manages to convince him to fix it, citing June’s recent death. As Pacheco sheepishly fixes the taps, Shayna eats dinner, and Tiger ponders her new reality. She takes a bath and does the laundry, finally washing her dress but putting it back on as soon as it is out of the dryer.
As she lays in bed next to Shayna at night, Tiger contemplates all the big life events that have happened to her recently: a parent’s death and then the discovery of a sibling. She falls asleep just as she receives a goodnight text from Thaddeus.
Part 2, Chapter 32 Summary: “10 Days, 12 Hours”
When Tiger finally wakes up, Shayna tells her that she has been asleep for almost two days. She says they need to figure out some way to make an income fast, as June left many unpaid bills and Shayna doesn’t have much money. She suggests moving, but Tiger is not ready to leave home. Suddenly, she has an idea.
Part 2, Chapter 33 Summary: “10 Days, 13 Hours, 19 Minutes”
Tiger shows an incredulous Shayna the “Jellymobile,” the truck June used to cart around and sell her homemade jams and jellies in the summer. The preserves she made over the winter are packed and waiting in the shed in the backyard.
Shayna gets a call from someone named Ray; she seems rattled as she takes the call. Tiger texts Cake to come over, but Cake is busy filming an audition video for a prestigious music camp she has been waitlisted for. However, Cake claims that she won’t leave Tiger even if she gets in.
After Shayna finishes her call, she refuses to talk about Ray. The two of them load up the truck together, and Tiger suggests they speak to Dustin sometime. Shayna snaps at her, saying she doesn’t want Tiger and Dustin to speak, as she is “already out here cleaning up his mess” (240). Shayna apologizes immediately after, but Tiger can’t stop thinking about how Shayna thinks of her as a “mess.”
Part 2, Chapter 34 Summary: “11 Days, 12 Hours”
The next day, Tiger and Shayna tiptoe around each other as they take the Jellymobile out. They eventually start talking again, but Shayna gets another text from Ray. She brushes it off, simply saying that things ended badly between them. They spend the day selling jams and jellies, and Tiger is impressed by how easily Shayna chats up and charms people. Back home, as they are eating dinner, Tiger begins to think that things might be okay after all. However, Shayna says they ought to keep their options open, as she didn’t enjoy working the Jellymobile.
Part 2, Chapter 35 Summary: “12 Days, 16 Hours”
Cake’s investigation into June leads her to one of June’s ex-colleagues, Laura, at the University of New Mexico. Laura is saddened to hear of June’s death and talks about her a little. She says June was a good person and a diligent worker. June had a boyfriend with whom she fought often, and then she left town without notice. Laura says June grew up in Phoenix.
Cake and Tiger look though June’s things in the house, hoping to discover more about her past. They find a shoebox filled with photographs, newspaper articles, and ribbons June won at various equestrian events. However, there are no pictures after June’s 10th year, and Tiger wonders that happened in the years between then and Tiger’s birth.
Cake’s parents arrive to pick her up, and Tiger overhears the family arguing about Cake’s music camp. She did get in after all but is turning them down; she did the same thing last year because Tiger had mono and Cake didn’t want to leave her. Cake’s father, Gabe, wants her to go and thinks Tiger is holding her back. When Tiger asks Cake about camp, she lies and says she hasn’t heard back. Since Shayna is going out that evening, Cake invites Tiger over to her house. Tiger declines; she thinks she “can’t always run to a better life […] and hide” (258).
Part 2, Chapter 36 Summary
Tiger counts down the minutes after Shayna leaves, wondering when she will be back. Tiger calls her, panicking when Shayna doesn’t answer and leaving multiple voicemails. Just as she contemplates calling the police, Shayna returns and soothes a teary Tiger.
Part 2, Chapter 37 Summary: “13 Days, 10 Hours”
Shayna is sleeping in the next morning, so Tiger hitches a ride to school with Cake. Tiger makes a comment about being left behind, which worries Cake, who doesn’t understand why Tiger is upset with her.
As Tiger is getting her things from her locker, Ellen Untermeyer, one of her classmates, spitefully laughs about Tiger’s dress. Kai is with Ellen, and Tiger asks him once again how he could leave her at the hospital. Ellen coldly suggests that Tiger get over it, and Tiger snaps and slaps Ellen as hard as she can. When Kai asks her to stop, she shoves him, too, and has to be carried away, still raving and kicking, by the counselor, Walrus.
Part 2, Chapter 38 Summary: “13 Days, 11 Hours, 29 Minutes”
Tiger waits for Shayna in Principal Vela’s office; her actions amount to grounds for expulsion. When Shayna finally arrives, Principal Vela informs them that Ellen’s parents are threatening to press charges for assault. In response, Shayna pulls up Ellen’s Instagram account, which features numerous vicious posts about Tiger as well as other students, which amounts to bullying. Shayna also has texts from a number of students who witnessed the incident and are ready to swear that Ellen provoked Tiger.
As Principal Vela takes a call, Shayna apologizes to Tiger for being late; she was gathering evidence. Shayna also reassures Tiger that she is not in as much trouble as she thinks. Principal Vela asks to speak to Shayna alone.
Part 2, Chapter 39 Summary: “13 Days, 12 Hours, 9 Minutes”
On the way home, Shayna tells Tiger that she has not been expelled after all. She just needs to stay away from Ellen, write her a letter of apology, and attend Walrus’s grief group. Shayna also gives Tiger her first driving lesson, revealing that she has been driving since she was 11—Dustin taught her so that she could pick him up from bars when he was drunk. Thinking about how she now has a sister who is teaching her to drive, Tiger’s “heart kind of [jumps] with happiness” (277).
As Tiger drives, Shayna mentions that Cake said June was overprotective. Tiger remembers Andy, June’s ex-boyfriend, and how she liked him, but June freaked out after he took Tiger skating and she broke her arm. They broke up over it. Thinking about June triggers a panic attack, and Shayna makes Tiger pull over and calm down.
At home, Tiger spots another text from Ray on Shayna’s phone. Curious, she reads through the text thread. Shayna has been telling him to leave her alone, but Ray is angry, insisting that she is not the one in charge. Shayna catches Tiger looking at her texts but promises her she is handling it.
Kai texts Tiger, saying she shouldn’t have hit Ellen. He also suggests that he only went out with Tiger because she was constantly hanging onto him and demanding attention. Hurt, Tiger tells him she wishes his mom would die. Kai says he regrets defending her to Vela, and he brings up how Tiger said terribly hurtful things to him that one night. Shocked and ashamed to learn that he was one of the witnesses who stood up for her, Tiger apologizes to him.
Part 2, Chapter 40 Summary: “17 Days, 13 Hours, 9 Minutes”
Tiger returns to school after a four-day suspension, and she attends her first grief group session. Meanwhile, Shayna seems stressed; there have been more messages from Ray, and she has not yet opened a State of Arizona envelope addressed to her as Tiger’s guardian.
Walrus welcomes Tiger, and she is surprised to discover that Mae-Lynn, Taran, and his brother, Alif, are the other grief group attendees. Mae-Lynn mentions attending June’s viewing, and Tiger reflects on how Mae-Lynn is “a girl-bug in a jar, too” (288). Tiger is further shocked when Lupe arrives halfway through the session.
Tiger learns that Mae-Lynn’s father died of cancer, after struggling for years. Taran and Alif’s father died suddenly and unexpectedly in an accident on the Interstate. It has been years after these deaths for all of them, but they still struggle with grief. Tiger likes being part of a community in which other people finally acknowledge the reality of this pain.
Walrus asks all the students to write a reflection on what they miss the most about the person they have lost. Tiger is too overwhelmed to write anything and begins crying. The others reassure her that whatever happens in the room stays within the group.
Part 2, Chapter 41 Summary: “17 Days, 19 Hours, 40 Minutes”
Tiger hangs out in the arroyo with the other grief group members after the session. She texts Shayna, who says she is going out again. Mae-Lynn produces a bottle of rum, and Taran and Alif light up a joint. Tiger remembers her mother always telling her to abstain, and she thinks about her father’s incarceration. Nevertheless, she tries both alcohol and marijuana for the first time. The group discuss how, no matter what, they will always have to live with grief. Tiger also learns that Lupe’s brother was one of the three seniors who died by suicide some years ago.
A sheriff’s car drives by, and Mae-Lynn panics and gives Tiger the bottle to hide in her bag. The teenagers eventually leave, and Mae-Lynn gives Tiger a ride home. Shayna is still out, and Tiger is relieved, as she is a little drunk. Cake texts to check in on her; Tiger snaps at her again, before feeling guilty and telling her that she has been drinking. Cake googles what Tiger should do to feel better and tells her to drink some water, which she does before falling asleep.
Part 2, Chapter 42 Summary
Tiger and Shayna settle into a sort of rhythm, though Shayna is extremely busy most days. June’s death certificate arrives a week before school ends. The 911 report is included, and Tiger discovers that June was on the phone with Kai’s mother, Sue, when she died. Sue called 911 when June abruptly stopped talking.
Tiger calls the medical examiner listed on the report and tells her about the dress and the fight. She asks about the aneurysm, and the examiner explains that the kind that June had means that she died instantly, without suffering. Tiger asks if the examiner believes in God, and after some hesitation, the examiner reassures Tiger that her mother is in a good place. Worried, she offers Tiger a crisis hotline number, but Tiger tells her that she is in counseling at school.
After the call, Tiger feels darkness take over. Cake and Thaddeus don’t respond to her texts, and she doesn’t have Mae-Lynn’s number. She drinks the remainder of Mae-Lynn’s rum, which she had hidden in the backyard shed, and wonders if it feels better than hurting herself or punching Ellen.
Part 2, Chapters 31-42 Analysis
The rising action gains momentum in these chapters, as more background details emerge along with increased foreshadowing. To Tiger’s shock, she learns that her mother’s involvement with her father upended Shayna’s life. This leads her to doubt Shayna’s feelings and sense of commitment toward being Tiger’s guardian, and she wonders whether she is a burden on her sister. The novel also foreshadows future complications via Ray’s constant text messages; Shayna’s past relationship will play a big role in the plot. Another instance of foreshadowing is the increased comfort Tiger finds in alcohol. Not only does she try it for the first time, but she also turns to it as an escape in a difficult emotional moment.
The themes of The Struggles of Coping With Grief and The Importance of Community in Healing are intertwined in these chapters. Shayna’s arrival and the discovery of Dustin’s identity are big, overwhelming changes in Tiger’s life; these happen at a time when she is already dealing with so much more. Her reflection on how she is experiencing big life events out of order indicates her conflicted state of mind. Furthermore, Tiger is not ready to think about moving out of her old home yet since everything in her life is already unstable. She is still experiencing the intense psychological after-effects of her mother’s death, including anxiety and panic attacks. Even small, nondescript moments trigger her attacks—like Shayna stepping out for the evening or Tiger remembering something specific about her mother.
Tiger’s mental health is further impacted by the interpersonal stress in her life. After June’s death, she feels completely alone and needs a parent figure to help her navigate finances and official paperwork; however, she is not yet sure how much she can depend on Shayna, emotionally and otherwise, as she doesn’t think her sister is there of her own volition. Simultaneously, Tiger’s relationship with Cake is also in a vulnerable place, following Tiger’s discovery that Cake has been admitted to music camp. Returning to school and seeing Kai is another trigger, and when Tiger is provoked by Ellen, she snaps and lashes out in anger. The depth of Tiger’s anger underlines the still unprocessed and unresolved grief about her mother’s death. Tiger projects this onto other people she believes have also abandoned her, like Kai. The lack of community that Tiger feels in her life adds to the intensity of her grieving.
Serendipitously, this incident actually helps Tiger see that she does, in fact, have people in her life she can depend on and relate to. Shayna comes to Tiger’s defense and saves her from severe punishment at school. The incident also leads her to the grief group, where she discovers unlikely companions in Mae-Lynn, Taran, and even Lupe. As members of the group share their experiences, Tiger learns that her experience with grief is not unique.
At the grief group session, Tiger also encounters the idea that grieving will likely be an ongoing, lifelong process. Rather than feeling discouraged by this, however, she feels better to hear this reality understood and acknowledged by people with similar experiences. When she was alone in her grief, Tiger was irritated when people—including Cake—told her that things will get better because Tiger knew she wouldn’t be able to suddenly snap out of the intensity of her feelings. In contrast, at the group session, she sees that others like her are struggling. Just the sense of the shared experience, despite the experience itself being negative, is helpful to Tiger, and it underscores the importance of community in processing grief. However, this same community also introduces Tiger to a coping behavior that will end up complicating her life: She grows comfortable with the idea of marijuana and alcohol as she sees relatable peers consuming them to deal with their emotional pain. She similarly chooses to drink alcohol as an escape in a difficult moment, when June’s death certificate arrives.
These chapters also flesh out Shayna’s character and show that she is a worthy addition to the new community that Tiger is building. While young, and at times seemingly immature, Shayna proves that she is smart, confident, and more capable than Tiger expects her to be. Tiger and Shayna are learning to navigate their relationship with each other, which is complicated given their respective mothers’ relationships to their father. While Tiger is still unsure about Shayna’s abilities as a guardian, Shayna proves on multiple occasions that she is a loyal and protective older sister. She helps Tiger out at school and later teaches her how to drive. These are important, positive moments for Tiger. Shayna and Tiger’s interactions also shed light on June’s contrasting overprotectiveness, further reiterating how it kept Tiger too sheltered.
Tiger’s relationship with Cake also seems to be changing, especially after she realizes that Cake’s parents think Tiger is holding their daughter back. Nevertheless, Cake is still as concerned about Tiger’s welfare as she always has been. She helps Tiger find the shoeboxes with June’s photographs, and Tiger learns new details about her mother. This also sets up the mystery of the missing parts of June’s life between her childhood and eventual motherhood.
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