Chapter 17: Danni — Full Summary and Analysis
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
The chapter opens with Danni alone in her room, scrolling through photos and articles about Rose and Alfie's kiss. She tries to convince herself she's happy for them, but the effort is so intense that she has to bite her fist to keep from crying. She reads every article she can find, including ones that highlight the couple's childhood photos and the public's long-standing expectation that they'd end up together.
Desperate for distraction, she turns to a new episode of her favorite medical drama, but even a cliffhanger involving a car crash fails to lift her mood. She decides to go to the ballroom to practice piano. Once there, she slams her hands on the keys, producing a burst of clashing notes, and then plays a comfort song she learned at fifteen after her first major breakup with a boy named Matt. The song's lyrics compare the death of love to lying in a rose garden until the vines overwhelm you. She plays it repeatedly, hoping the repetition will ease her pain, but it doesn't seem to work.
Molly enters the ballroom, and the heavy door shakes the room. She immediately notices Danni's red eyes and asks if she's been crying. Danni deflects with a lie about hay fever. They talk about the news, and Molly initially pretends to think Danni means a stadium announcement, but then admits she saw the Rose and Alfie story. Danni tries to gauge Molly's reaction, but Molly makes it clear she doesn't care about Rose's love life and doesn't want to discuss it.
Molly then reveals she's been thinking about needing space from Rose. She explains she doesn't want Danni to choose sides, but she'd like to spend less time with Rose and more one-on-one time with Danni. Danni is surprised but also relieved; she's been feeling the strain of her crush on Rose and thinks some distance might help her move on. She agrees to hang out with Molly alone.
As they walk to dinner, Danni asks about Eleanor, and Molly explains that Eleanor will likely stick with Rose no matter what, because of a deep history: Rose defended Eleanor when she was ostracized in third year after her mother's affair became public. Danni reflects on Rose's self-assessment as