Be More Chill

Christine Caniglia is Jeremy’s love interest, although she never reciprocates his romantic advances over the course of the novel. Christine has blonde hair and enjoys acting; she is particularly excited about playing the role of Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. She goes out with Jake Dillinger, a football player, although they later break up. Christine enjoys having conversations with Jeremy, finding the nerdy facts that he shares with her at rehearsal to be interesting. She remarks “I hate boys who are bad conversationalists” (51) when Jeremy accidentally makes an offensive joke about her father losing his job. Like Jeremy, Christine also is interested in social systems, developing her own ranking for the stages of a romantic relationship. She plans to major in psychology in college.

Christine likes Jeremy, but he often offends her by behaving in a way he feels he ought to rather than showing her his real reactions. For example, when Jeremy first approaches her to give her the chocolate Shakespeare gift, he worries too much about the rumor going around that he sent her a letter. Because he is fixated on proving to her that the rumor is false, Christine demands, “Are you proud about not giving me a letter? […] Is that like your big accomplishment of the day? Not giving me something?” (24-25). Similarly, when Jeremy stops the play to confess his feelings for her, she angrily admits that “if you weren’t so dumb, I would have liked it!” (271). Because Jeremy is the point-of-view character, he misses the obvious hints that Christine likes him and prefers his real self to his SQUIP-self. The ending of the novel indicates that Christine also functions as an audience surrogate. She is the intended reader of Jeremy’s book, and, like the reader of the novel, she has the agency to decide if she finds Jeremy to be a likable person at the end.

Michael Mell cares less about his social reputation and more about his own individual passion for alternative rock music. He is Jeremy’s best friend, described as a “tall white boy with a white-boy afro and huge headphones” (10). Michael’s headphones allow him to sit at any table he wants at lunch, representing the ability to move between social groups by refusing to participate in the system of codes and rules. Rather than pursuing the same girls that everyone in school likes, Michael dates the less-often-noticed Asian girls, which Jeremy believes means “he doesn’t need a mechanical advantage the way I do” (80). Michael has a laid-back personality, and his calm serves as a foil to Jeremy’s anxiety. When Jeremy spirals into thoughts of the worst possible outcome, Michael reminds him that he ought to try things instead of giving up out of pessimism. Michael likes emo rock and Weezer, not the more popular rap and hip-hop music. When he meets Nicole, their disagreements about music help them grow closer, rather than damaging Michael’s reputation.

While under the influence of the SQUIP, Jeremy ignores and avoids Michael. Michael is angry and frustrated by this, but he remains a loyal friend. He agrees to attend the house party with Jeremy, even though he is upset with him, because he does not want him to get hurt trying to drive without a permit. When Jeremy’s love confession during the play goes catastrophically wrong, Michael is the one who finds him and comforts him. Although Michael seems to be a typical “stoner,” he is actually more reasonable and better informed than Jeremy, demonstrating good instincts that contrast with Jeremy’s excessively quantifiable approach to life. Michael admits that he knew about the SQUIP and withheld that information from Jeremy because a SQUIP almost made Michael’s brother’s perception break from reality; he claims, “That’s evil technology” (276). Michael’s suggestion that Jeremy tell Christine the truth about the SQUIP forms the basis for Jeremy’s eventual plan to write the book, indicating that Jeremy ultimately adopts his perspective.