The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Jones, Kimberly; Segal, Gilly. I’m Not Dying with You Tonight. Sourcebooks Fire, 2019. Kindle.

Divided into five sections, the novel is written in alternating chapters narrated in the present tense by the two main characters, Lena and Campbell. Lena’s chapters are written by Kimberly Jones, and Campbell’s chapters are written by Gilly Segal.

The first section, “Part I: Mass Disturbance,” features nine chapters that introduce the characters and set the plot in motion. Lena is a popular, beautiful, Black teenage girl who has grown up in Atlanta. She lives with her dad and her best friend is LaShunda. Her boyfriend, Black, is despised by both her family and friends because he has a bad reputation and sketchy friends who have a habit of mistreating girls, including LaShunda herself. Lena loves Black despite this because she sees a sensitive side to him that loves music and encourages her to pursue her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Campbell is a shy, timid, white teenage girl who just moved to Atlanta from Connecticut. Her parents are economically disadvantaged. When her mother loses her job, she must go to Venezuela to get a new one, leaving Campbell to move to Atlanta with her single father who owns a hardware store. Both girls are seniors, but that seems to be where their similarities end. The whole novel takes place over a single evening. After school gets out, Lena goes to the football game to watch her friends dance during the halftime show. She plans to meet up with Black afterwards. Campbell gets roped into working in the concession stand by her English teacher, who promises to give her a ride home so that her father, who wants to go to his fishing cabin for the weekend, can leave early in the afternoon. During the halftime show, Lena gets into a fight with LaShunda, who leaves the game and goes home. Lena orders a soda from Campbell. A fight breaks out when a white student from the rival team makes a racist comment to a Black student. Someone throws a drink that hits Lena. She runs inside to clean her shirt off. The rest of the concession workers run away, leaving Lena and Campbell inside as the fight intensifies. After shots are fired, Lena tries to call Black and get him to pick her up early, but her phone dies

.

In “Part II: All Call,” Campbell offers hers, but then realizes it is in one of the portable classrooms. The two girls run through the fighting crowd to the portable. Inside, Lena calls Black, but he says he cannot leave the tattoo parlor on Seventh Avenue where he and his friends are hanging out. Lena feels bad for Campbell, who has no ride, so she tells her to come with her. The two girls attempt to leave the front of the school, but a police blockade terrifies Lena. They leave through the back of the school and walk through a bad neighborhood where they are nearly robbed.

In “Part III: The First Brick,” the girls arrive onto Seventh Avenue, a popular downtown street, they see that it is crowded with Black Lives Matter protestors and white men holding confederate flags up. The girls try to get to the tattoo parlor, but then a white man crashes his car into a Black woman and the protest turns into a violent riot as people begin to smash windows, light cars on fire, and rob stores. The girls take refuge in a convenience store owned by Campbell’s father’s friend, whose grandson, Nicky, works at Campbell’s father’s hardware store. Inside, Campbell sees Nicky and realizes her father’s store is unprotected.

In “Part IV: Fatal Funnel,” the girls leave the convenience store and continue to the tattoo parlor, but when they arrive it is closed, and Black is nowhere to be found. Lena calls him and he tells her he is at Walmart and will give her a ride if she comes to him. The girls take a detour to inspect the hardware store. They discover it has been ransacked and destroyed. Campbell wants to stay and protect the little that remains, so Lena leaves without her after they get into a racially charged argument. When Campbell realizes Lena still has her phone, she goes after her and finds her in the middle of a war zone. Police descend on the mob and beat them into submission. Together, they run toward Walmart, but discover the parking lot is blockaded. They turn to leave, and then miraculously run straight into Black. Black’s friends, Peanut and Big Baby, drive up and everyone gets inside their car. Peanut takes Campbell’s backpack and puts it in the trunk. Black forces his friends to reluctantly take the girls home. When they arrive at Campbell’s house, she gets out and gets her backpack, but she sees that the trunk is full of her father’s hardware equipment. She starts to scream at Peanut, who tells her he is not giving anything back. Black threatens Peanut with a hammer, but then Peanut pulls out a gun and shoots. The two wrestle and the gun falls on the floor. Big Baby picks it up and unloads the clip, preventing any further violence.

In “Part V: Aftermath,” Lena, Campbell, and Black take the hardware supplies into Campbell’s house as Peanut and Big Baby drive away. Campbell, upset by the night, tells Lena to leave her alone in a rude way. Campbell’s father drives up and starts to call the police on Lena and Black. Campbell stops him and tells him they are her friends, then explains the events of the night to him. Black walks Lena home and tries to kiss her, but she is disappointed with how he treated her all night and refuses to kiss him. She goes inside and explains what happened to her dad, then gets into bed and texts her new friend Campbell.