Pen Pals
 | This chapter is exclusively available to members of Bittersweet Club International. |
| Pen Pals | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Published | August 7, 2023 |
| Page count | 14 |
| Major characters | Sandy, Lucy |
| Minor characters | Mike |
| Locations | Roseville Elementary School |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Another Date | Another Choice → |
| Read in the BCI Members’ Library | |
Pen Pals is a non-canon Bittersweet Club International-exclusive comic that flips the series’ oldest goodbye. This time Mike is the third-grader moving to another city, and Sandy and Lucy are the ones he leaves behind, with nothing to bond over but a mailbox.
Partial synopsis
The comic opens in third grade as Mike tearfully tells Sandy that he has to move away. They cling to each other and cry as petals fall. Before they part, Mike promises, “I’ll write every day!”[1]
After the move, Sandy sits alone at her desk, eats lunch alone and walks the school halls by herself. She then notices Lucy moving through the crowd with the same downcast expression.[2] When Sandy speaks to her, Lucy says Sandy never noticed her until Mike left. Sandy asks her to help write Mike a letter anyway. Lucy agrees on the condition that she can call him “a stupid idiot for leaving like he did.”[3]
Sandy tells Mike that she loves him and hopes he likes his new school. Lucy warns that she will beat him up if he does not visit.[4] After mailing the letter, Sandy asks Lucy to eat lunch with her the next day. Lucy refuses, saying that she does not need Sandy to feel sorry for her, before walking away.[5]
Sandy, for her part, has no intention of leaving it there. The years ahead will show just how far a childhood promise can stretch...
Character dynamics
- Sandy and Lucy: In the main comic, Sandy invited Lucy to play, but Lucy refused.[6] Here, after Mike leaves, Sandy asks Lucy to help write him a letter. Lucy answers with “Now that he’s gone, you notice I exist?” Even so, she agrees to write.[3]
- Lucy and Mike: In canon, Lucy took Mike back without hesitation after Sandy left.[6] In this story, Mike moves away instead, and Lucy joins Sandy in writing to him. Her part of their first letter tells him to visit or she will beat him up.[4]
Trivia & observations
- Mike’s promise repeats a line from Unfulfilled Fantasy almost word for word.[1] There, “I’ll write every day!” belongs to Sandy because she is the child moving away.[7]
- Elementary School Sweethearts, another BCI comic, begins with the same farewell but takes it in the opposite direction when Sandy stays.[8]
Related chapters
- Unfulfilled Fantasy: In canon it was Sandy whose family moved away in third grade, and the two children made the same promise to keep writing. Pen Pals restages that farewell with the roles swapped.
- Left Behind: In canon, Sandy invited Lucy to play, but Lucy refused and remained isolated while Sandy and Mike were friends. After Sandy moved away, Lucy accepted Mike back without hesitation.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Pen Pals, page 1 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ Pen Pals, page 2 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Pen Pals, page 4 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pen Pals, page 5 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ Pen Pals, page 6 🔒 (members only)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 26: Left Behind, page 5
- ↑ Chapter 17: Unfulfilled Fantasy, page 9
- ↑ Elementary School Sweethearts, page 1 🔒 (members only)