Invitation

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Invitation
Chapter41 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedDecember 7, 2007 (2007-12-07)
Page count20
Major charactersTess, Lucy, Mike, Lily, Abbey, Daisy
Minor charactersPaulo, David, Sue, Molly, Janet, Alec McCain, Amaya, Yashy, Blur, Chirpy
LocationsTess's house, David's house, Paulo's house, Daisy's house, Mike's house, Abbey's house, Lucy's house, Airport
Collected inVolume One, Omnibus 1
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Tess invites the whole gang on a fully paid week at the Silvershore Islands, and when Mike and Lucy turn her down, she stuffs them both into a car trunk until they reconsider. Daisy, meanwhile, has plans of her own entirely.

Synopsis

Tess opens the chapter at her desk, writing to the whole gang. Her parents are paying for a weeklong vacation to the Silvershore Islands as her senior-year gift, and the letter closes with a warning that anyone who can't come had "better have a damn good reason!"[1] Sue is over the moon just to have been remembered, David is already dreaming of beaches and bikinis, and Paulo sounds oddly deflated about the whole thing.[2]

Abbey is the first to decline. He tells his mother Janet he doesn't want to miss his appointment and intends to stick to the plan they set up, "no excuses." His little sister Molly worries it's her fault for yelling at "that boy" before, but Abbey reassures her, and the two settle into some affectionate bickering over her scouting cookie cart.[2][3]

Mike turns the trip down too, figuring Sandy would find it a little strange if he flew off somewhere with a bunch of girls when he could be planning a visit to her instead.[4] Lucy hears him out over the phone, then calls Tess to decline as well. The line goes strangely quiet, and Lucy tells her to "sort out this crush on me". Minutes later Lucy's own doorbell rings, a hand shoots through the door, and she's yanked bodily outside while Lily watches with her jaw on the floor.[5]

Tess grins and winks, saying "Watch your head ♥" as she shuts the car trunk on Mike and Lucy.
Tess handles RSVPs a little differently than most hosts.

Lucy and Mike wake up tied together in the trunk of a car. The kidnapper is Tess herself, who winks at her cargo and shuts the lid, and Lily's rescue attempt (a full-speed rolling tackle to the back of Tess's head) only gets her recruited to the scheme.[6] After a long drive and a bloody nose for Tess, everyone lands in a grass field, where Tess explains this was the only way to get them talking. Her prisoners answer in unison: "YOU KIDNAPPED US FOR THAT?!?!"[7]

The negotiation goes better for some than others. Tess calls Lucy's "Mom said no" out as a lie, and Lily needles Lucy about being free all summer until a badly timed blush gives the real reason away.[8] Mike, on the other hand, gets an offer he can't refuse: Tess will buy him a flight out to Rickter to visit Sandy instead. He erupts in joy and borrows her phone to call Sandy on the spot.[9] Lucy is rather less gracious once her own ropes come off, punching Tess in the face and twisting her arm with an audible SNAP while Tess cheerfully keeps offering beach massages.[10]

The stalemate finally breaks when Mike turns around from his call shaking and teary-eyed, wailing that Sandy is going to Europe on business and won't be around all summer.[11] Tess comforts him and re-pitches the trip, and when he sulks off anyway she grabs him by the head and shakes him: "BE SELFISH!! IDIOT!!" Mike relents and agrees to ask his mom. Tess then rounds on Lucy, who saves face by deciding that Tess simply can't get over her and might as well be humored. It is Tess's money, after all.[12]

Five days later, Daisy appears on Abbey's doorstep in a summer frock and drags him along to see everyone off, whether he likes it or not.[13] At the airfield, Tess reveals why he was wanted. The trip will cover his birthday, so the whole gang surprises him with a pushcart full of presents,[14] and Mike assures the bashful newcomer he's one of them now, a sentiment David makes sound pretty cultish. Paulo shyly hands over his own gift, a video cassette of "Big Booty Boys 2", and Abbey playfully throttles him for it.[15]

Then Daisy drops her bombshell — she isn't coming. She made a promise to be there for Abbey, she reminds him, and she's keeping it. Abbey is overjoyed, while Paulo's entire review of the situation is "Gay".[16] Sue fixes the odd headcount her own way. She loudly states a contradictory political claim, waits for Alec McCain to materialize and rebut it, then hauls him up the boarding stairs by the arm.[17] Once the plane is a speck in the sky, Daisy asks Abbey to a movie. He blushes and hesitates, and the chapter closes with the two of them running off hand in hand, Abbey towing his wagon of presents.[18]

Critical moments

  • Tess's letter invites the whole group on a fully paid week at the Silvershore Islands, with a warning that anyone declining had better have a good reason.[1]
  • Abbey turns the trip down to keep his mysterious appointment, telling Janet he wants to stick to the plan they set up, "no excuses."[2]
  • The kidnapper who snatched Mike and Lucy is revealed as Tess, who closes the trunk on them with a wink and a "Watch your head ♥".[6]
  • Mid-phone-call in the field, Mike learns Sandy will spend the whole summer in Europe on business, killing the visit he'd turned the trip down for.[11]
  • Tess shakes the sulking Mike by the head, yelling "BE SELFISH!! IDIOT!!", and he agrees to come. Lucy caves right after, on the theory that Tess just can't get over her.[12]
  • At the airfield, the group surprises Abbey with an early birthday and a cart of presents, and Mike declares him one of them.[14][15]
  • Daisy reveals she's staying behind: "I made a promise to be there for you, remember? Well, I'm keeping it! ♥" Once the plane leaves, she asks Abbey to a movie, and they head off hand in hand.[16][18]
Abbey and Daisy run off hand in hand, grinning at each other, while Abbey pulls a wagon full of birthday presents.
Who needs a tropical island, anyway?

Character dynamics

  • Abbey and Daisy: Back in Moving On, Daisy promised to be there for Abbey "every step of the way" while he tried counseling over the break.[19] This chapter is where she makes good on it at real personal cost, passing up a free island vacation to spend the week with him instead. By the final page she has asked him to a movie and the two are running off grinning, hand in hand, the closest the pair have ever looked to a couple.[16][18]
  • Abbey and the friend group: Abbey arrives at the airfield a self-conscious newcomer who hasn't "even known you guys for very long". The surprise birthday settles that for good. Mike declares him one of them, and even Paulo's gag gift is its own sort of affection.[14][15]
  • Mike and Sandy: Mike planned his whole summer around finally visiting Sandy in Rickter, and turned down a tropical vacation for her sake.[4] Her Europe trip puts that visit off indefinitely, and he doesn't get to make it for a long while yet.[20]
  • Lucy and Tess: Lucy spends the chapter kicking, punching, and arm-snapping Tess, who absorbs all of it and keeps the invitation open anyway.[10] Her persistence wins a yes, though strictly on Lucy's face-saving terms rather than out of any real warmth.[12]
  • Lucy and Mike: Nothing shifts between the two of them directly, since Mike stays happily oblivious from the trunk to the tarmac. What changes is who knows. Lily and Tess both work out exactly why Lucy won't go anywhere without him.[8]

Trivia & observations

  • This chapter opens the Summer Vacation arc, and Veronica calls it a turning point in her process. For the first time she planned the story ahead, made character reference sheets, and canned or rewrote ideas along the way.[1]
  • It's also the end of the grid-comic era. Per Veronica, "say goodbye to the grid-comic format! Proper panels are here to stay!"[1]
  • The destination was originally Acapulco. Oliver's commentary explains the omnibus renamed it the Silvershore Islands to stay consistent with fictional place names to come.[11]
  • Abbey was heavily redesigned just before this arc. Veronica has said she "really hated his original design" and rebuilt him to fit in with the cast.[3]
  • Sandy's "Europe on business" excuse is meant to raise eyebrows. Veronica's commentary asks "What is she DOING?", with Oliver adding "We shall see!"[11]

Related chapters

  • Moving On: The chapter just before this one sets up both of the tarmac threads. Abbey's mysterious "appointment" is the counselor plan he made there, and Daisy's promise to be there for him is made almost word for word.[19]
  • Arrival: The trip itself begins here. Sue's abduction of McCain also pays off with him seated, and complaining, on the plane.[21]
  • New Beginnings: The week this chapter carves out for Abbey and Daisy plays out here, appointment included. Lucy calls it "Abbey's appointment with the shrink".[22]
  • Feline Festivities: Tess's last big hosted event, and the precedent for Lucy hitting her. That time it was a karate chop, for trying to make Lucy sing.[23]
  • Rising Temperature: Introduces Abbey's family, Janet and Molly included, and contains the fight Molly frets about here — the boy she yelled at was Mike.[24] Molly debuted mid-fight on that page, making her cookie-cart scene in this chapter only her second appearance.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 2
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 4
  5. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 5
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 6
  7. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 7
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 8
  9. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 9
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 12
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 13
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 14
  13. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 15
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 16
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 17
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 18
  17. ↑ Chapter 41: Invitation, page 19
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Chapter 41: Invitation, page 20
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 40: Moving On, page 6
  20. ↑ Chapter 71: Just Beautiful, page 10
  21. ↑ Chapter 42: Arrival, page 3
  22. ↑ Chapter 46: New Beginnings, page 1
  23. ↑ Chapter 28: Feline Festivities, page 9
  24. ↑ Chapter 38: Rising Temperature, page 9
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