Character Analysis
Jeff's a 10th-grade guitar-playing boy who serenades Dicey every day after school and invites her to the school dance. But wait, we’ve got to back up here for a minute. You don’t just dive right in and ask our Dicey on a date. Here’s how it starts when he first notices her noticing him:
When he finished, he strummed a couple of chords. "Have a sit, kid."
Dicey shook her head and turned away. She heard the guitar begin another melody as she unlocked her bike and rode off downtown. (2.36-37)
You’ve got to hand it to Jeff for being persistent after a first encounter like that. He uses the time-honored trick of being a boy with a guitar, waiting for her every day after school with a Grateful Dead tune or two, even coming over under the guise of wanting to jam with Maybeth.
He’s a smooth one, that Jeff. He never gets a date with Dicey, but he gets her to agree to let him ask her again next year. This is a major step for Ms. Interacting-With-Other-Humans-Is-Really-Hard. We're betting that Jeff's just good looking enough to make it all a little easier, though.