Always and Forever, Lara Jean

Fresca is the soft drink of choice preferred by Ms. Trina Rothschild. Before moving in, she has already stocked the fridge with Fresca and offers one to Margot’s boyfriend, Ravi, when they arrive from the United Kingdom. He has never heard of it, and Trina offers him and Margot some. At this, Lara Jean anticipates Margot’s shifting emotions. She thinks her sister has answered “in a pleasant enough tone,” but that she would not “appreciate being offered a drink in her own home by someone who doesn’t live there.”

Later, Margot vents to Lara Jean about Trina: “She was walking around like she lives here! And since when do we have Fresca? We’ve never been a Fresca-drinking family.” When Lara Jean defends Trina and the drink, Margot reveals outright, “That’s not the point!” Margot is feeling lost and left behind in the shifting roles within her family dynamic. Life abroad has meant missing out on Trina’s inroading into the family. While this transition has been gradual for Kitty and Lara Jean, it was abrupt for Margot. As the eldest daughter, Margot would have felt some motherly duties toward the two younger girls, who have now shifted their allegiances to Trina, leaving Margot feeling left out. It takes Margot a while to process her feelings, and so the reader is clued in with references to the drink instead.

As early as the first chapter, Lara Jean mentions her love of scrapbooking. After she finds she will not be joining UVA with Peter in the fall, she comes up with the idea to give him a scrapbook filled with their “greatest hits.” She immediately starts collecting pieces for the book, putting them aside for later use. She wants a good photo from prom; collects random notes from amongst the snack bar wrappers at the bottom of her locker. To her, the book will symbolize their high school love for one another—one chapter of their lives ending, another just about to begin.

When Peter is shuffling his feet to complete the yearbook for Lara Jean, she compares his lack of progress with her enthusiasm for the scrapbook, finding frustration and fault with his reticence: “I lie back down next to him and he cuddles in close, but I’m still thinking about the yearbook. I’ve been working on his scrapbook for months; the least he can do is write me a nice yearbook message.”

When Lara Jean finally presents Peter with the scrapbook as his graduation gift, his reaction is underwhelming. She has included the letter that started their fake relationship, which led to their real relationship. Lara Jean thinks: “One day all of this will be proof, proof that we were here, proof that we loved each other. It’s the guarantee that no matter what happens to us in the future, this time was ours.” But Peter gets caught up in the meaning of it: “I thought you wanted to keep this,” he protests. She voices her opinion that it’s something to remember them by, and he’s unable to keep reading. He thanks her, but it’s obvious something has unseated him, and he doesn’t reveal what until much later, during their breakup: “‘Ever since you decided to go to UNC, you’ve been saying good-bye to me.’ […] ‘There’s the scrapbook, for one thing. You said it was to remember us by. Why would I need something to remember us by, Lara Jean?” The scrapbook represents different things for the two of them; for Lara Jean, it’s a reminder of their formative years together and the future they will explore as a couple. For Peter, it’s a separation from the past, a nostalgic token from a woman on the verge of cutting him loose. It’s not until they agree to reinstate their long-distance relationship that the position of the scrapbook in their lives is solidified in Peter’s contract to Lara Jean: “Peter will keep the scrapbook out on his desk so any interested parties will see that he is taken.” Just as they have come to an understanding in life, the first reason for Lara Jean’s creation of the scrapbook will finally be fulfilled.