Safe Boundaries

From Candypedia
Safe Boundaries
Chapter78 of 129 (list of chapters)
PublishedAugust 8, 2013 (2013-08-08)
Page count26
Major charactersDaisy, Abbey, Paulo
Minor charactersMike, Sue, Tess, Molly, Janet, Augustus, Rachel, Jessica, David
LocationsRoseville High School, Abbey’s house, Daisy’s house, Roseville neighborhood
Collected inVolume Four
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Midterms are finally over, and Daisy has a plan for what comes next. She and Abbey are going to be responsible and buy some “protection”, just in case. Between nosy little sisters, drugstore run-ins, and one horrified Paulo, responsibility turns out to be mortifying work.

Synopsis

The last midterm ends with Daisy and Abbey leaping out of their seats to cheer while Paulo hangs his head in misery.[1] Outside, Tess thanks Daisy for all the studying help and, with a suggestive grin at a blushing Abbey, suggests the two bookworms treat themselves to a night in. Daisy misses the subtext completely and chirps “Oh, it’s a plan!”[2]

The night in at Abbey’s house starts sweetly, until a heated kiss has Abbey abruptly pulling away and hiding behind an offer of drinks.[3] Daisy gathers her nerve and proposes they take “precautions”, just in case.[4] Her nerves spiral fast from there, through pregnancy risk and college and the years it takes to become a doctor, until she’s gripping Abbey by the chest and declaring “WE CANNOT HAVE BABIES”. From the floor beside the bed, Abbey’s little sister Molly asks, “Why not?”[5] Molly gets shoved out and reports the baby-making news to Janet downstairs.[6] Even then, they agree to go buy protection together, with Janet hollering through the door that they had better be talking about baseball.[7]

The next day at lunch, Daisy decides she needs an expert. She asks Paulo, point blank, what it was like to lose his virginity, stunning him mid-bite.[8] A guilt trip cracks him open, and she asks where a person might buy protection.[9] Paulo starts giving directions before the reason sinks in, and when Daisy points out he did the very thing he’s now forbidding, he wails “I DIDN’T MEAN TO!”[10] Before leaving, Paulo sincerely tells her it can get complicated and that she should trust him.[11] Left alone, Daisy pouts that she’s not a baby.[11]

After the final bell, the two make their way to the huge drugstore Paulo mentioned and split up inside.[12] Daisy sneaks her way to the right aisle and secures a box,[13] only to turn around and find Augustus standing there. Neither of them manages much beyond staring. Daisy gets out a flat “Hi.”, and Augustus wordlessly returns a can he had hidden in his jacket to the shelf before slinking off.[14] Her escape route runs straight into Mike instead, out buying ear medicine for his baby brother Chris. His cheerful “Guess we’re both here for baby stuff, huh?” leaves her frozen solid.[15]

Back home in Daisy’s bedroom, the two sit staring at the box on the floor, and Daisy concedes it isn’t very romantic.[16] In the end, they agree they don’t need it. Daisy admits she’s “too young for this stuff anyway”, and Abbey pulls her close and tells her that’s perfectly fine.[17] As for disposal, he knows just the person to take it off their hands. The chapter closes on a baffled Paulo in his doorway, box in hand, demanding to know who left it there, with Rachel peeking around the doorframe behind him.[17]

Character dynamics

Molly leans on the bed and asks "Why not?" while Daisy and Abbey freeze in shock.
Molly has a follow-up question.
  • Daisy and Abbey: Daisy and Abbey are steady and affectionate. As usual, they talk through their first brush with the subject of sex. Daisy is the engine of the whole plan, bold in bursts and panicking in between. Abbey blushes, worries, and follows her lead without ever pushing for more.[4][12] They’ve been together since their first kiss in New Beginnings,[18] and this is the first time the subject has come up between them at all. The boundary they settle on is mutual and spoken out loud, with Abbey assuring her that not being ready is “perfectly fine”.[17]
  • Daisy and Paulo: For all the teasing, Paulo is deeply protective of Daisy and treats her like a little sister. Her prying pulls out both genuine regret over his own first time and a warning he means completely.[10][11] Daisy is tired of being handled like a kid. When Abbey asks whether she’s sure about the trip, one glance back at Paulo settles it.[19]
  • Daisy and Augustus: The bad history between them is still unresolved. Their drugstore collision is their first face-to-face meeting since Daisy slapped him at the carnival.[20] Apart from her flat “Hi.”, they communicate entirely in stares. Being seen by her is enough to make him put back the can he had tucked into his jacket.[14]
  • Paulo and Rachel: Their one-night stand in Study Buddy has quietly turned into something ongoing.[21] Nothing about it is said out loud here, but Rachel is with him at the lockers between classes, and when the condom box turns up at Paulo’s door, she’s peeking around the frame right behind him.[19][17]

Trivia & observations

Daisy stands frozen with her fur frizzing up as Mike smiles awkwardly beside her.
Small talk with Mike goes about as well as the rest of the trip.
  • Veronica’s commentary under the drugstore’s big establishing shot admits the page intimidated her at the sketch stage: “I TRIED... IT LOOKS LIKE THEY’RE IN ONE OF THOSE PHARMACIES.”[12]
  • Her commentary dubs Daisy’s condom-aisle sneaking “metal gear daisy”.[13]
  • Daisy’s book report is on “Jane Ear”, which Veronica’s commentary calls the “sequel to jane elbow”.[22]
  • The Augustus encounter plays out over a nearly wordless page — Daisy’s “Hi.” is the only line spoken on it.[14]
  • Daisy’s mid-panic wail about how many years it takes to become a doctor is the first mention of her medical ambitions, which she states outright in Scenic Route.[5][23]

Related chapters

  • Study Buddy: The midterms everyone just survived are the ones the gang crammed for at Daisy’s study party in the previous chapter. It also opens with Paulo waking up beside Rachel after a one-night stand, the freshest of the regrets he’s carrying into his lunch conversation here.
  • Back and Forth: The encounters Paulo stammers around at lunch both happen here, first with Jessica at the nightclub and then with Rachel at the drive-in.
  • New Beginnings: Daisy and Abbey become a couple in this chapter, with Daisy announcing “I’m gonna kiss you!!” and following through. When she says they’ve “been dating for a while now”, this is where she’s counting from.

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 1
  2. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 3
  3. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 5
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 6
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 7
  6. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 8
  7. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 9
  8. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 11
  9. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 13
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 14
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 16
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 19
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 20
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 21
  15. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 22
  16. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 24
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 26
  18. ↑ Chapter 46: New Beginnings, page 10
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 18
  20. ↑ Chapter 39: Love My Way, page 17
  21. ↑ Chapter 77: Study Buddy, page 1
  22. ↑ Chapter 78: Safe Boundaries, page 12
  23. ↑ Chapter 84: Scenic Route, page 17
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