Love Letters
 | This chapter is exclusively available to members of Bittersweet Club International. |
| Love Letters | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Published | April 23, 2016 |
| Page count | 15 |
| Major characters | Madison, Jessica, Rachel |
| Minor characters | Matt, Jordan, Tiff, Mike, Lucy |
| Locations | Roseville High School |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Another Boyfriend | Blind Date → |
| Read in the BCI Members’ Library | |
Love Letters is a canon Bittersweet Club International-exclusive comic covering how Madison and Jessica first met, from a shared desk in sophomore history class to the beginnings of a crush Madison will loudly deny to anyone within earshot.
Partial synopsis
Jessica’s sophomore-year history class at Roseville High School is going nowhere fast.[1][2] Mr. Holloway drones through his World War I unit until he finally tells everyone to pair up. Madison, a girl Jessica has never spoken to before, pulls a chair over and introduces herself with a playful little bow.[1] Madison’s deadpan riffing on the lecture soon has Jessica giggling into her hand. The crack about Hitler’s wife being “partial to bow ties like my own” earns Jessica, rather than Madison, a scolding for immaturity.[3]
Neither girl learns her lesson. They spend the rest of the period passing notes, mocking the teacher and joking, with Franz Ferdinand still fresh on the board, about assassinating somebody if the bell doesn’t hurry up.[4] The girls discover that they share a lunch period, and Madison soon joins Jessica at a table that includes Rachel, Matt and Jordan.[5][6]
The friendship continues into junior year, but new schedules leave the pair with only homeroom together. “Junior year blows already,” Madison grumbles. Jessica reassures her, and Madison blushes.[7] From here the story is all Madison’s, as a friendship she picked out for herself starts turning into something she absolutely refuses to call a crush. Something, sooner or later, has to give...
Character dynamics
- Madison and Jessica: They begin as strangers. Madison pulls over a chair, introduces herself and soon has Jessica laughing at the lecture.[1] Later, she promises to “hunt you down” as soon as she learns they share a lunch period.[5]
Trivia & observations
- Love Letters was released to members in April 2016 alongside Fork in the Road, as part of BCB’s tenth-anniversary celebration. The announcement billed it as “a bit of background on Madison’s first introduction to Jessica”.
- Mr. Holloway lectures on World War I and its aftermath, yet the girls’ passed notes proclaim “I loooooooooove WWII”.[3][4]
- Mike and Lucy make a silent one-panel cameo in the homeroom scene, the comic’s only glimpse of the main cast.[7]
- This is Mr. Holloway’s only on-panel appearance in the entire series.[1] He’s named exactly once elsewhere, when Jessica recalls “hating on” him in Golden Hour.[2]
Related chapters
- Golden Hour: During the beach trip, Jessica tells David that Madison transferred in 10th grade and recalls how they made fun of Mr. Holloway before they “just sorta clicked”.[2]
- Table for One: That chapter seats Rachel, Jessica, Madison, Matt and Jordan together at another cafeteria table.
- PDA: Madison and Jessica share the focus of a main-comic chapter that follows them over the course of a school day.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Love Letters, page 1 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 31
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Love Letters, page 2 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Love Letters, page 4 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Love Letters, page 5 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ Love Letters, page 6 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Love Letters, page 7 🔒 (members only)