Third Wheel
| Third Wheel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chapter | 123 of 129 (list of chapters) |
| Published | February 12, 2025 |
| Page count | 20 |
| Major characters | Daisy, Paulo, Abbey, Lucy, Mike, Jasmine |
| Minor characters | Sue, Amaya, James, Courtney, Rachel, David, Tess, John, Dylan |
| Locations | Roseville High School |
| Chapter navigation | |
| ← Review Session | Second String → |
| Read chapter | |
Daisy and Paulo’s first day at school as a couple comes with one rule: nobody can know. The trouble is, everybody already does, except the one person the secret is for. And Abbey has been looking for Paulo anyway.
Synopsis
Fresh off getting together, Daisy and Paulo march up to Roseville High School with a plan. Until the final bell rings, they are just classmates, and holding hands is strictly forbidden.[1] Paulo takes her wrist about four seconds later. Inside, Lucy takes one look at them and drawls, “Damn, I’m shocked she isn’t crawling all over you.”[2] Since Abbey broke up with Daisy over suspecting the two of them, they beg Lucy to keep quiet for his sake.[3] She finds the whole worry boring, but she agrees.[4]
Lucy being so blasé annoys Daisy, who wanted people to be shocked.[4] Mike’s reaction is a bit stranger. His startled “Whoa, really?” gives way to a forced smile, and he hurries off looking drained.[5] Daisy spends the rest of the day canvassing friend after friend, and every one of them already knew, right down to Tess cackling over the phone that it’s about time.[6]
Jasmine is the one who finally gets to her, and she does it with sincerity. Paulo was so thoughtful and attentive to her, a girl he barely knew, that she can’t imagine how well he’s going to treat Daisy.[7] Daisy, sobbing, charges her boyfriend and demands PDA. She raises their joined hands and gets as far as “I LOVE MY BOYY” before spotting Abbey standing right beside them.[8] In a panic, she stretches the vowel into “ffffffffFFFFFFRIEND RALPH!”, gushing over a character from the Colton Harbright books she lent Abbey.[9]
Abbey, as it happens, was looking for Paulo all along.[10] He’s brought him a book about moving on after a parent fails you — he knows Paulo has complicated feelings about his mother, and he got a lot out of it himself.[11] When Paulo asks why he’s being so nice, Abbey explains he’s been talking to his therapist about him. If Paulo, someone he used to hate, isn’t actually a bad person, then maybe Abbey can learn to go easier on himself.[12] Paulo pulls the startled Abbey into a hug and calls him a really cool guy.[13]
Once Abbey is gone, Paulo stares at the book and blurts that maybe this was a bad idea — maybe they shouldn’t get together, not yet.[14] Daisy is devastated and starts to accept it, but Paulo cuts her off with a shouted “I love you!”[15] He finally lets his hurt over her day of blabbing show, and Daisy apologizes for being selfish and promises, pinkies linked, to take the secret seriously.[16]
Character dynamics
- Paulo and Abbey: Abbey has been working through his grudge against Paulo with his therapist and chooses a book that speaks to Paulo’s feelings about his mother. He admits Paulo is someone he “really used to hate,” while Paulo initially assumes Abbey’s friendliness must be mockery.[17][12] Paulo hugs him, and they part on friendly terms.[13]
- Daisy and Paulo: Daisy writes the secrecy rules, then spends the day breaking them because she wants a big reaction from their friends. Paulo keeps his hurt to himself until he finally tells her, “Until you blab it out again”.[16] Daisy apologizes for being selfish and pinky-promises to take the secret seriously, and the two reconcile.
- Daisy and Abbey: The exes are on friendly terms, and Daisy means to keep them that way at any cost. Guarding the secret now means lying to Abbey’s face, which she turns out to be frighteningly good at, right down to making him apologize for the unread books.[18] By the last page, he is officially the one person who cannot find out.[16]
- Lucy and the couple: Lucy becomes their first sworn secret-keeper, and easily the least impressed person in the school. She clocks the two of them on sight, thinks worrying about Abbey is a waste of everyone’s time, and still musters a sincere “Congrats, though.”[2][3][4]
Trivia & observations
- Paulo drops the title himself when he tries to bow out of the book chat (“Whatever. I’m clearly third-wheeling here so I can go”), though minutes later it’s Daisy who ends up third-wheeling the boys’ heart-to-heart.[10][13]
- Veronica recalls a for-fun comic she drew back in 2007 of a far-future Daisy and Paulo “stomping through school holding hands and being really obnoxiously in love”, made before Abbey even existed. Their real first day plays out rather differently.[2]
- Tess called it behind the scenes too. Veronica says that during Love My Way, Tess’s creator Lily suggested having Tess push Paulo toward Daisy at her prom, and that Tess “always kinda figured Paisy would happen.”[6]
- Paulo carrying Daisy’s bookbag in the opening scene is, per Veronica, him “taking a tip from Abbey.”[1]
- Veronica’s commentary notes that Paulo spends the whole chapter getting quietly more and more hurt watching Daisy ignore the request he made in Review Session, and that being able to express that anger at her is growth for him.[16][19]
- Veronica calls Daisy’s Ralph save “4D chess” (a plausible fictional crush and a guilt trip for Abbey, delivered in the same breath), adding “Daisy doesn’t have a perfect GPA for nothing!”[18]
- The Colton Harbright books, Ralph, and Valentina all make their first appearance in the series here, and the improvised crush isn’t a one-off. Ralph gets brought up again a few chapters down the line.[18][20]
Related chapters
- Rain Check: Daisy and Paulo finally get together, and Lucy hears Daisy ramble lovestruck about Paulo. That prior knowledge may help explain Lucy’s muted response when they share their news on their first school morning together in Third Wheel.
- Review Session: Paulo worries that Abbey will react badly to their relationship, so Daisy agrees that they will keep things professional at school for a while. Her repeated breaches of that pact drive their conflict here.
- Time Out: Paulo first opens up to Abbey about his mother during their detention, when the two can barely stand each other. Abbey draws on that disclosure when he chooses a book for Paulo here.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 1
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 4
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 5
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 6
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 7
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 8
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 9
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 14
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 15
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 16
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 17
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 18
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 19
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 20
- ↑ Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 13
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 10
- ↑ Review Session, page 4
- ↑ Chapter 128: Made Fresh, page 11