Jonas tells himself several times that things can't change between him and his best friend, Asher. Do you think they can? Do you think they will?

No, I do not think they can. Asher simply does not have the emotional maturity or insight to share as Jonas has. Really Everybody except The Giver is much like Asher. They see the world in black and white. Even the adults have the emotional maturity and sophistication of a child. Jonas is beginning to understand the emotions, good and bad,  that help make people become balanced individuals. Asher is lost in the mind numbing reality that the Elders have constructed for him.