Feline Filibuster

From Candypedia
Feline Filibuster
Chapter60 of 129 (list of chapters)
PublishedNovember 24, 2010 (2010-11-24)
Page count18
Major charactersSue, Paulo, Jasmine, Abbey, Daisy, Alec McCain, Tess
Minor charactersMike, Lucy, David, Rachel, Amaya, Katie
LocationsRoseville High School
Collected inVolume Three, Omnibus 1
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← RehearsalPillow Talk →
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Election season hits Roseville High. Sue runs on real, achievable outcomes, Jasmine’s ticket promises candy bars and a ban on detention, and Abbey runs on expelling every bully in the building. So naturally, the winner is Daisy, who only joined the race halfway through the debate.

Synopsis

The race begins in the Roseville High School computer lab, where Paulo prints off a thick stack of campaign posters for Jasmine.[1] At lunch, Sue slams into the cafeteria to announce her own run for student council secretary.[2] Paulo and Jasmine burst in moments later as the rival ticket.[3]

Sue then points out the problem with the rival ticket. Only sophomores can run for secretary, and Jasmine is a freshman. Paulo typed every last poster, and Jasmine lets him know it with a shriek of “IT’S ALL OVER THE SCHOOL!! 300 sheets of WRONG, Paulo!!”[4]

Abbey disagrees with most of Sue’s policies and enters the race against her instead of joining her ticket.[5] At the secretaries’ debate, things turn ugly when Abbey is asked about the rise in school bullying and answers with a single word, expulsion.[6] Sue accuses him of scare tactics and brands his whole platform a fascist dictatorship.[7] The word “Fascist” finally breaks him. Abbey slams his fists down and screams “BULLIES SHOULD ROT IN HELL!!” The room falls silent, apart from Paulo helpfully yelling for Abbey to hit her.[8] Daisy calms him with a reminder about his counselor and takes his place at the podium as a strictly temporary substitute.[9]

The speech does quieter damage out in the audience. Back at lunch, Lucy had blown her nose on Mike’s scarf without asking, business as usual for those two.[2] As Abbey rails on about bullies and abuse, Mike turns a judgmental frown on Lucy. She goes white and refuses to look at him.[7]

In the end Daisy wins, and Sue collapses under the caption DEFEATED.[10] A “WHAT REALLY HAPPENED” flashback reveals that Paulo spent the campaign grimly ordering student after student to vote for her.[11] Daisy then hands the job away, reasoning that it was Abbey’s campaign all along and that she has eighteen other extracurriculars anyway. Abbey takes the news with an unsettling amount of satisfaction: “Heh heh heh.. Just according to plan..”[12]

Secretary Abbey wastes no time, declaring a lunchtime trash-pickup day for orange cats that lands squarely on Paulo.[13] Jasmine, who won the treasurer’s race, gets him back on Paulo’s behalf by converting the bake sale money into thousands of pennies and having them delivered straight into Abbey’s locker.[13]

Character dynamics

Jasmine flails her arms so fast she appears to have four of them, screaming "300 sheets of WRONG, Paulo!!" at a cringing Paulo.
Paulo remembers what grade his girlfriend is in, 300 sheets too late.
  • Sue and Abbey: Before this chapter, they barely have a relationship beyond being fellow members of the friend group. Sue greets Abbey as an assumed campaign ally and gets an opponent instead,[5] making them open political rivals. By mid-debate, she’s branding his platform fascist while he screams at her from the stage.[7][8] The vote doesn’t end it. Sue insists she got over the loss, but watching Abbey land the seat anyway horrifies her all over again.[11][12]
  • Daisy and Abbey: Daisy is both Abbey’s girlfriend and his campaign staff here. She hands him his speech and talks his temper down on stage,[14][9] then runs in his place, wins, and gives him the seat. She turns out to be the more electable of the two.[12]
  • Paulo and Jasmine: Paulo is eager to support his new girlfriend, even if he doesn’t always get it right. He turns himself into Jasmine’s campaign manager, then prints 300 posters for an office she cannot hold.[1][4] Jasmine is quick to forgive him, and her anger is loud but brief. She later hugs him for helping her win treasurer and retaliates when Abbey puts him on trash duty.[13]
  • Mike and Lucy: Lucy’s rough treatment of Mike has always passed as normal between them, and blowing her nose on his scarf at lunch is just the latest example.[2] Abbey’s tirade recasts that habit as something much uglier. Mike frowns at her across the auditorium, and Lucy can’t bring herself to meet his eyes.[7] Not a word is exchanged, and the very next chapter, Pillow Talk, has Mike ignoring her on her own birthday.[15]

Trivia & observations

Abbey smiles thinly against a green background, saying "Heh heh heh.. Just according to plan..".
Roseville High’s incoming secretary, everybody.
  • The chapter title was a beta-title from Oliver, who scripted the first six or so pages. Veronica’s own working title was “Elections”.[1]
  • A post on the authors’ Tumblr sets the chapter in late 2007, between Halloween and Lucy’s birthday — hence David’s “running for Obama?” crack.[3][16]
  • Lucy using Mike’s scarf as a tissue revives the running gag from Wardrobe Malfunction, a chapter the group spends wiping all manner of things on that poor scarf. Veronica’s commentary greets the return with “How nostalgic!”[2][17]

Related chapters

  • Pillow Talk: The very next chapter is Lucy’s birthday, and Mike spends it ignoring her while happily greeting everyone else.
  • Under Pressure: The source of Abbey’s debate flashbacks. Noah pins Tess against a wall in this chapter, and it’s Abbey who drives him off.
  • A Different Side: The history behind “THE SCHOOL HATES ME”. At the pep rally, Tess was forced on stage and booed by the whole school.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 6
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 9
  6. ↑ Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 10
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 12
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 13
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 14
  10. ↑ Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 15
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 16
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 17
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 18
  14. ↑ Chapter 60: Feline Filibuster, page 11
  15. ↑ Chapter 61: Pillow Talk, page 3
  16. ↑ “Ask response on David knowing about Obama early”. 2017-03-22.
  17. ↑ Chapter 24: Wardrobe Malfunction, page 1
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