Rain Check

From Candypedia
Rain Check
Chapter122 of 129 (list of chapters)
PublishedOctober 23, 2024 (2024-10-23)
Page count38
Major charactersDaisy, Lucy, Paulo
Minor charactersLani Amalu, Mike, Abbey, Katie, Stacy
LocationsRoseville High School, Burger-Tron, Roseville neighborhood
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Daisy has resolved to bury her feelings for a boy she’s sure would never want her. Lucy is having none of it. One Burger-Tron trip, one overheard confession, and a lot of rain later, Paulo and Daisy are officially a couple.

Synopsis

Daisy starts the day mooning at her locker, so lost in thought that she misses the bell.[1] On the P.E. mile run, Lucy jogs up and pries. Daisy swears she’s over Mike, but she’s fallen for someone new, someone she’s certain would never want a girl like her. All she wants now is to learn to be okay with just being his friend.[2] Lucy responds by casually suggesting Burger-Tron after school, and Daisy’s sparkle-eyed “DO I??” gives the whole game away. She hastily insists it’s only about their chocolate milkshakes.[2]

Paulo is working the register. Daisy freezes at the sight of him and can’t bring herself to order at all.[3] When he starts ringing up her usual anyway, she covers her face and walks away without a word.[4] Paulo, for his part, takes it hard. Convinced Lucy brought Daisy in to rub his nose in his mistakes, he apologizes for the “stupid shit” he said about Augustus and asks to be put on dishes.[5]

Lucy gets the truth out of her at the booth. She barely starts naming the problem before Daisy erupts: “But I love him!!”[6] She sobs that she loves him too much to even look at him anymore, and that she’ll never be his type.[7] When Lucy tells her to just say all this to Paulo, Daisy throws Lucy’s own failed confession back in her face and runs out into the rain.[8]

Only then does Lucy notice Paulo standing right beside her with a mop, stunned — he’s heard the whole thing.[9] He drops everything and sprints out mid-shift after Daisy, while Lucy calmly eats a fry.[10]

Paulo catches up to her on the sidewalk and hugs her from behind.[11] He admits he’d assumed Daisy was avoiding him because he’d made her angry.[12] As she berates herself for making big, stupid scenes, Paulo watches her with a soft smile. “You’re so fucking cute.”[13]

Daisy braces for a “but” that never comes. Instead, Paulo cups her cheek. “It’s really not that hard falling in love with your best friend.”[14] She collapses against his chest, and the two hold each other wordlessly in the downpour.[15] Paulo declares he wants to be a good boyfriend and take care of her, which is exactly why he has to run back to his shift.[16]

On the walk back, Paulo jokes that he could use a very capable girlfriend on his side. She melts at the word, latches onto his arm, and chants that he is her boyfriend.[17][18] Paulo admits he always figured Daisy was destined for something greater, and he’s afraid of dragging her down.[19] Daisy punches his shoulder, promises he won’t, and takes his hand.[20] Back at Burger-Tron, Lucy catches the dripping pair at the door. She swirls her milkshake and says, “Guess you were right. These are pretty good!”[21]

Character dynamics

Paulo, eyes closed, wraps both arms around Daisy as they embrace motionless in the pouring rain.
Paulo is, technically, still on the clock.
  • Paulo and Daisy: Lifelong best friends, and, as of this chapter, an official couple. In Good Enough, Paulo swallowed his confession and claimed it was Lucy’s love he was chasing.[22] Daisy is convinced she isn’t the type of girl Paulo asks out.[7] Paulo finally learns that Daisy loves him by overhearing her confession.[9] Paulo still fears dragging down a girl “destined for something greater”. Daisy answers that she’d be happy anyway, because she’d be with him.[19][23]
  • Paulo and Lucy: The pair are still carrying their blow-up from Double Down, where Paulo accused Lucy of going all the way with Augustus and she slapped him for it.[24] He assumes the worst of her here too, reading the Burger-Tron visit as deliberate cruelty, yet it’s also here that he makes his first on-panel apology for that fight.[5] When Paulo realizes Daisy loves him, he runs past Lucy without another argument. She calmly eats a fry as he leaves.[10]
  • Daisy and Lucy: Daisy tells Lucy that Lucy has never healthily gotten over a boy, then lashes out at her twice more before the afternoon is over.[25][8] Lucy takes the hits and keeps asking questions anyway. She invites Daisy to Burger-Tron after school and refuses to drop the subject until Daisy confesses within Paulo’s hearing. Lucy greets the new couple with a smile and concedes that Daisy was right about the milkshakes.[2][21]

Trivia & observations

Paulo and Daisy arriving at school as a couple, in a proto-ending Veronica drew in June 2006.[26]
  • Veronica originally wrote an “ENTIRELY different sequence” for this chapter. Oliver, whom she calls the “#1 Paisy truther”, didn’t like it, and after some arguing and a consultation with Lily, she landed on the version that ran.[27]
  • The pairing was planned from the series’ very beginning. Veronica drew a proto-ending in June 2006 showing Paulo and Daisy arriving at school as an official couple, with a pleased Lucy nearby, because “she’s the reason they get together! Just like what happens in Rain Check!”[26]
  • Paulo and Daisy both assume the worst of Lucy’s motives in this chapter, and the authors have explained why. The kids’ defensiveness rests on their childhood picture of an aloof, snarky Lucy who treated their problems as entertainment. Since her return, she’s had few chances to show them she’s changed.[28]
  • Per Veronica’s commentary, the “something greater” Paulo thought Daisy was destined for is Abbey: “Greater.. Like Abbey.”[19]
  • Daisy’s milkshake alibi is older than it looks. She first declared her love of Burger-Tron’s milkshakes in Small Fry, the chapter where Paulo got the job,[29] and Veronica’s commentary under the final page notes that “The milkshake didn’t go to waste, thankfully! That was the most important part.”[21]
  • Paulo already knew Daisy’s order back in Golden Hour, where he secretly corrected Abbey’s strawberry-milkshake order to chocolate and jeered that a boyfriend ought to know what his girl wants.[4][30]
  • Rain frizzing Daisy’s curls has bothered her since Helping Hands, where a downpour caught her mid-rescue and Paulo was the one comforting her then, too.[31][32]

Related chapters

Lucy smiles, points to her milkshake and says "These are pretty good!"
Lucy renders her verdict on the chocolate milkshake.
  • Good Enough: Paulo takes Daisy out for a Burger-Tron milkshake heart-to-heart and chokes on his own confession, claiming it’s Lucy’s love he’s after. Daisy ends that chapter crying over his romantic history, picturing the same lineup of girls that crowds her thoughts at the booth here.
  • Behind Closed Doors: The last time Paulo secretly overheard Daisy talking about him, he was hiding in Mike’s closet and she was being pushed into shouting that he sucks. He gets a much kinder earful this time.
  • Third Wheel: Paulo and Daisy study together and go on a date in Review Session. In this chapter, the new couple try to keep the relationship a secret from Abbey, only to learn that nearly everyone had suspected for ages.

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 6
  3. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 7
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 9
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 10
  6. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 12
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 13
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 15
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 17
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 18
  11. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 22
  12. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 25
  13. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 27
  14. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 29
  15. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 31
  16. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 32
  17. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 33
  18. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 34
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 35
  20. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 36
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 38
  22. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 11
  23. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 37
  24. ↑ Chapter 114: Double Down, page 49
  25. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 5
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 “Were Paulo and Daisy planned to eventually date?”. 2025-10-26.
  27. ↑ “Ask response on how Rain Check was rewritten”. 2026-05-04.
  28. ↑ “Ask response on why Paulo and Daisy assume the worst of Lucy”. 2025-03-21.
  29. ↑ Chapter 83: Small Fry, page 4
  30. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 20
  31. ↑ Chapter 122: Rain Check, page 23
  32. ↑ Chapter 8: Helping Hands, page 5
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