Track Meet

Track Meet
Chapter	115 of 129 (list of chapters)
Published	May 9, 2022 (2022-05-09)
Page count	26
Major characters	Mike, Paulo, Daisy, James, Sandy
Minor characters	Sue, David, Amaya, Lucy, Augustus, Darwin, Felix, Finn, Lucas, Max
Locations	Mike’s house, Roseville neighborhood, Roseville High School
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Mike’s apology tour somehow ends with him in a track uniform. While James introduces himself by cheerfully admitting to four months of stalking, Daisy and Paulo have a conversation on the gym bleachers that neither of them saw coming.

Synopsis

Mike starts the chapter texting happily with Sandy on his snowy walk to school. Mike stops smiling the moment he spots Lucy and Augustus walking ahead of him. Sandy’s messages fade into unreadable squiggles as he stares after Lucy, and he types back only “Haha, yeah! ^^ That’s funny!”

At lunch, Paulo bonks the despondent Mike with his tray and throws an apple at his head when he won’t eat. Pressed on what’s wrong, Mike admits he’s simply sad, “Because I’m terrible.” Mike tells Sue he’s really sorry for snapping at her. He then apologizes to a furiously blushing Paulo for hurting him at this very table.

Daisy suggests Mike needs a hobby, and a stranger behind him pipes up to suggest track. This is James, a sophomore Paulo recognizes as his Burger-Tron coworker, who transferred to their school in September without telling him. James cheerfully confirms that the first step of his plan to recruit Mike was “to stalk you for four months.” Mike says yes anyway. Soon he’s standing alone in the gym in a Hornets jersey, musing, “And I guess.. .. that’s how I became.. .. a jock.”

Up on the bleachers, Daisy prods Paulo about James, and Paulo vents his hurt. James never told him about the transfer and never asked him to join anything. “But instead it’s all Mike, same as always. Forever the golden boy.” Daisy then tells him she doesn’t want to be with Mikie anymore. She’s thought about it a lot lately, and she’s totally sure.

When Paulo can’t explain why he’s even there, Daisy gently suggests he might think the track boys are cute too, and coaches him to say it out loud. He bolts, and she blurts after him, “I think girls can be really cute too!” Daisy stares ahead, her eyes drawn as scribbles. Paulo’s feelings about boys, she admits, made her question her own, and all she could think about was Sandy. She’d hated Mike in third grade for taking Sandy away from her, and had wanted her in a way that wasn’t entirely innocent. She assures Paulo it isn’t weird, and he finally concedes that James is “pretty.. .. good-looking.” Daisy hugs him, sparkling.

That evening, sore and happy after practice, Mike phones Sandy and tells her about the team and James’s invitation to go Christmas shopping. Then he asks why she dumped Francis for him. She loves him, she says. Besides, her mother hated Francis, and approves of Mike precisely because he’s never there in person to be a distraction. After a long silence, Mike admits he’s a little sad about it all. Sandy agrees they should talk through their feelings together, “Though.. It’d be nice not to be yelled at again.” Mike’s hand clenches around his scarf, and he curls up and apologizes.

Hours later, Mike still can’t sleep. Whenever Mike closes his eyes, he remembers the night under the tree with Lucy and cries into his pillow. “Just go to sleep”

Character dynamics

Paulo discovers his Burger-Tron coworker has been going to his school since September.

• Paulo and Daisy: The two come out of this chapter as each other’s confidants. He’s the first person she tells about her old feelings for Sandy, and she’s the first person he tells that he finds a boy good-looking. With her parting “Remember me next time, okay? It’s not weird”, Daisy asks Paulo to come to her when he wants to talk about this again.
• Daisy and Mike: Daisy is finally certain that she no longer wants to be with Mike. She already kissed Mike goodbye in the library in Double Down, and now she tells Paulo she’s thought about it a lot lately and she’s totally sure. What’s left is friendly support, pom-poms included.
• Mike and Sandy: Mike later admits over the phone that he’s still a little sad about the affair. When Sandy says it would be nice not to be yelled at again, Mike clenches his scarf. He curls up and apologizes.
• Paulo and James: Burger-Tron buddies, and something a bit more complicated on Paulo’s side. Paulo tells Daisy that James transferred months ago without telling him and recruited Mike instead of him. He also remembers how much he enjoyed their shifts together.
• Mike and Sue: Mike apologizes to Sue for screaming at her in High Expectations when she tried to help him. Sue pauses in the middle of teasing him.

Trivia & observations

Daisy, shortly after coming out by accident.

• This is James’s first speaking appearance. He debuted silently in the crowd at the end of Eternal Flame. Veronica’s commentary says she sometimes wished she could have drawn him in earlier chapters, since Paulo has known him a while now, but she “really didn’t wanna draw Burger-Tron backgrounds.”
• The rest of the track team also make their first appearances here: Lucas, Darwin, Felix, Finn and Max.
• Mike’s jersey establishes the school’s team name and mascot, the Hornets, complete with a grinning hornet flexing its bicep.
• Veronica’s commentary under Daisy’s rant about how much there is to like about boys reads “Third panel is me about girls tbh”.
• Per Veronica’s commentary, Daisy looks solemn going into the hug because she feels embarrassed and vulnerable, but “She means what she says though!!!!!”
• Veronica notes that Mike “wasn’t trying to be catty” when he promised Sandy he’ll always make time for her. He just doesn’t realize how it might sound on her end.

Related chapters

• Eternal Flame: The chapter where Sandy confessed her affair with Francis and Mike screamed at her over a late-night phone call. It’s also where he and Lucy shared the kiss under the tree that comes flooding back on this chapter’s final pages.
• One-Track Mind: A short companion chapter that follows straight after, spent with James and the rest of the track team while he’s home sick. James also overhears the promise Mike made in Burnt Bridges to stay away from Lucy.
• Casual Outing: Daisy learned there that Paulo might like guys and asked him to point out cute boys, but he refused to even think about it. On the bleachers here, Paulo finally admits that James is good-looking.
• Link Play: The Christmas-shopping trip James proposes over the phone happens there. Mike joins the track boys at the mall, and they start to become his new circle.