Looking for JJ

In the final chapter of the novel, Alice is going by a new name with a new identity. She has new foster parents and is moving into a different university than the one that she had planned. All the details of her life have been rearranged to fit this new persona, including fake glasses and dyed hair. She has become another person for the second time in less than a year.

However, she is still able to hold onto some remnants of her identity as Alice: She has a laptop gifted from Rosie, along with a voicemail saved to her phone that she listens to frequently. She has two handwritten letters from Frankie begging her to call him. Despite these tenuous connections, she recognizes that she is no longer Alice or Jennifer on a fundamental level. As Kate, she is trying to forge yet another identity for herself because the outside world will never accept her identity as Jennifer Jones.

In her interactions with others in the final chapter, there are hints that this new life might not be easy. While her foster parents are warm and helpful, they are only temporary parental figures. Kate is alone in the world, with no friends or family. Kate does meet a girl in her dorm, but instead of being a potential new friend, the girl is nosy and off-putting. While Kate is determined to put her best foot forward, her future isn’t necessarily a sunny one. In addition, there is no final resolution for all the trauma she has suffered. Kate remains certain that she can’t escape her past, but as things stand, she isn’t able to grow beyond it. As soon as she forms any new close relationships with other people, she will be forced into the same dilemma she suffered with Rosie and Frankie. Kate hopes that her wounds will heal and people will forget about her in time, but her future remains uncertain.