On the Sidelines

On the Sidelines
Chapter	63 of 129 (list of chapters)
Published	December 10, 2013 (2013-12-10)
Page count	3
Major characters	Lucy, Augustus, Mike
Minor characters	Sue, Tess, Abbey, Daisy
Locations	Roseville High School
Collected in	Volume Three, Omnibus 1
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A break on the school oval goes sour for Lucy: Sue can’t get a civil word out of her, and Mike pretends she doesn’t exist. Comfort comes from Augustus, of all people, and in a language Lucy actually speaks.

Synopsis

Augustus spends the chapter parked on the edge of the school oval with a book, keeping half an eye on the students out running. On the grass, Sue and Lucy stretch together, and Sue asks whether rehearsal is still on for the afternoon. She’d love to see Lucy in action sometime. Lucy shoots back “Bite me,” and defensively insists that she’s got her lines down. Sue sighs, tells her to suit herself, and walks off smiling. Then Lucy notices Tess and Mike jogging by, chatting happily, and her mood sinks.

When Lucy runs up to ask what they’re talking about, Mike freezes her out completely. He keeps his music recommendation going right over her head, telling Tess she really should try the albums, and never once looks Lucy’s way. Lucy stops dead and watches the two of them run on without her. Tess glances back and tells Mike, “That wasn’t very nice of you.” He stares straight ahead and says nothing.

Augustus watches the whole thing from the sidelines, and his verdict is not sympathetic: “She just doesn’t learn.” He turns back to his book but changes his mind when he catches sight of the daisy flower pressed between its pages.

He closes the book, crosses the field, and quietly sits down beside Lucy, who is hugging her knees on the grass. His idea of a comforting opener is “You’re a real brat, you know that?” Lucy startles, then closes her eyes and grumbles “Shaddup.” Augustus smirks, and stays put.

Character dynamics

Augustus’s idea of comfort gets straight to the point.

• Augustus and Lucy: Until now, these two have run on frank mutual dislike. Their first quarrel on this same field, in Pillow Talk, ended with each of them flatly declaring they didn’t like the other, and just last chapter, in Call Waiting, he told her he only likes girls “who AREN’T pathetic and worthless.” Their first genuinely kind moment comes here, and Augustus manages it without softening his tone one bit. He calls her a brat by way of hello, she tells him to shut up, and both of them treat that as settled.
• Mike and Lucy: The coldness itself is nothing new. Mike has been shutting Lucy out since her confession in A Distance Apart, and he already walked right past her without a word on her birthday. This time, he snubs Lucy mid-sentence in front of Tess, then takes Tess’s scolding in stony silence.
• Tess and Mike: Tess has been one of Mike’s warmest friends since freshman year. She once even offered to buy him a flight out to see Sandy. She’s close enough to Mike to call him out here, and she’s the only one who does. His answer is to look ahead and say nothing.

Trivia & observations

• The chapter began life as a Volume Three book exclusive. Veronica’s commentary on the first page calls it “a really good little chapter” and celebrates it becoming “part of the OFFICIAL archive!”. The site’s May 2021 newspost lists it alongside Adult Supervision as one of the two previously book-exclusive chapters added in that month’s archive overhaul.
• Daisy herself appears for a single silent panel, chatting with Abbey in the foreground while Augustus and Lucy sit together — the same page where her namesake flower turns up pressed in Augustus’s book.
• The first time Augustus ever watched Lucy from a distance, he was lurking behind a tree with nothing kind in mind. He watches her from a distance here too, and this time he gets up to help.
• Veronica’s commentary under the final page approves of Augustus’s method: “I guess you gotta speak in Lucy’s language, thankfully she’s FLUENT.”

Related chapters

• Pillow Talk: On her birthday, Mike greets Daisy warmly and walks past a hopeful Lucy without a word. It’s also where Lucy and Augustus have their first field-side quarrel, which ends with them agreeing they don’t like each other.
• December: In the school library, Augustus again needles Lucy about letting Mike “walk all over you” before comforting her. He also finally explains the pressed daisy, telling Lucy outright that Daisy’s happiness is “what keeps me going.”
• Ten Seconds to Midnight: Augustus spots Lucy from a distance once more, this time standing on a rooftop ledge, and he is the one who grabs her hand.