Up to Bat

Up to Bat
Chapter	56 of 129 (list of chapters)
Published	August 20, 2012 (2012-08-20)
Page count	6
Major characters	Jasmine, Paulo
Locations	Roseville Park
Collected in	Volume Two, Omnibus 1
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Jasmine and Paulo get their first chapter all to themselves. It has softball practice, a thoughtful bottle of water, a ball straight to Paulo’s face, an accidental nap in Jasmine’s lap, and one very sweet change of plans.

Synopsis

Jasmine has the batting cages at the park to herself, working through her swing in her softball uniform. She’s just tossed up a ball to hit when Paulo turns up out of nowhere, right inside the cage, with a friendly “Some water, Jazz?” Startled, she swings blind. The ball ricochets around the neighboring cage and catches Paulo square in the face before he can even finish complimenting her form.

Jasmine rushes over to find him dazed and bleeding from the nose, still gamely holding up the bottle. She scolds him for ignoring her warning to stay out of the cage, and he explains he only came because she’s been training so much. Then he passes out. Jasmine tries to drag him onto the grass, gives up wheezing, and has to admit that she really is exhausted, so she drinks the water he brought. After some blushing glances back and forth, she pulls his head into her lap and pats it. Paulo half-wakes and purrs. A moment later his eyes shoot open, and the two of them scream and leap apart.

Once he’s back on his feet, Paulo spots the crumpled bottle on the ground and smugly declares “So you DID drink the water!” Jasmine shyly concedes the point. Naturally, he takes that as proof that he’s always right, and gets a tongue stuck out at him for his trouble. She picks her bat back up to resume training, and Paulo accepts it with a slightly sad smile.

Jasmine only makes it a few steps before that smile gives her second thoughts. With the empty bottle safely in the park’s garbage can, she slings her bag over her shoulder and decides: “Let’s just hang out.” The two walk away from the cages smiling at each other.

Character dynamics

Paulo makes a swift recovery once the head pats start.

• Paulo and Jasmine: The pairing is barely a chapter old and, as of Back and Forth, not even official yet, so this is the first time they’re shown together day to day. Paulo is already the doting sort, tracking Jasmine down mid-practice with water and staying sweet even after her startled swing sends a softball straight into his face. When she heads back to training, his slightly sad “Okay..” is all it takes for her to cut the session short. The purring and mutual screaming suggest the affection runs both ways, even if neither of them is ready to be caught at it. By Mischief Night, the very next chapter, the two are publicly an item.

Trivia & observations

• This is the first appearance of Jasmine’s softball, uniform and all. It sticks around as one of her many extracurriculars, from Paulo’s flashback in Pillow Talk to her club-juggling in Carry Me.
• The title was used once before for a four-page comic from 2006, now in the site’s Graveyard. The older Up to Bat turns gym class into a boys-versus-girls baseball game. It quickly descends into cheating accusations and a brawl. Afterward, Mike decides not to ask Lucy for his math homework.
• It’s also the first chapter given entirely to Jasmine and Paulo. Nobody else appears on panel at all.
• Paulo’s purr in Jasmine’s lap is a genuine one-off. He never purrs on panel anywhere else in the comic.
• Veronica’s commentary under page 6 explains the quiet shot of the water bottle in the garbage can. Coming back to the comic, she worried the previous page implied Jasmine would litter. As she puts it, “I know Paulo is capable of littering, but JAZZIE? Please.”
• Per Veronica’s commentary, page 1 was drawn well after the rest of the chapter. She made it “to fill some gaps in the archive after the slight chapter reorganisation which followed the publication of Volume Two.” She notes you can tell because she inked it with a brush instead of a pen.
• The original art for page 2 was later sold through the BCB store as part of the “Hardball” original pages pack.

Related chapters

• Back and Forth: This is where the couple got started. Jasmine debuts there, she and Paulo have their first movie date, and the chapter closes with her reminding him that they’re not yet official.
• Pillow Talk: The sleepover retelling of the couple’s fight over Jasmine’s packed schedule. Paulo’s flashback returns to these very batting cages, softball uniform included. That time around, the training wins out over hanging out.