“Options are everything”

Chris’s reminder that “options are everything” reframes Lara Jean’s college decision as an open choice rather than a forced compromise: even after the University of Virginia rejects her, she can consider the University of North Carolina and the possibility that she might be happy there. The expression links Margot’s practical advice to a moment when Lara Jean begins to choose for herself.

The Advice and Its Echo

On the drive to Chapel Hill, Lara Jean insists that she and Chris are only going to look, and that she is still planning to attend William & Mary. Chris answers with the reminder that options matter. Lara Jean recognizes the thought as one Margot often repeats and notices that Chris and Margot have more in common than either may realize. The phrase is therefore more than an upbeat travel remark: it carries a familiar principle into a new decision.

From Looking to Considering

The visit gives the advice a concrete setting. After arriving in Chapel Hill, Lara Jean sees that UNC’s campus resembles the University of Virginia’s, with green spaces, maple trees, and brick buildings. The familiar landscape makes the alternative easier to picture, but it does not settle the question. Chris points out that UNC and William & Mary are both an hour away from the University of Virginia and urges Lara Jean to consider staying at UNC for a year.

Lara Jean admits that wherever she goes, one thing will be missing: Peter. Yet she begins to test a possibility beyond that loss. What if she came to UNC and loved it? What if, after a year, she did not want to leave? Her own questions turn Chris’s advice into a choice to risk happiness rather than assume in advance that she will be unhappy.

Choosing Possibility

As Lara Jean looks up at two trees whose branches meet over a walkway, she imagines that she and Peter might remain connected while far apart. She can picture herself being happy at UNC, even as the image acknowledges the distance a college decision could create. Remembering Stormy’s advice not to say no when she wants to say yes, Lara Jean reaches a tentative openness to choosing the possibility in front of her. “Options are everything” thus names a shift in her thinking: an alternative need not erase what she loves in order to become worth choosing.