Love Again: Difference between revisions

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{{Infobox chapter
{{Infobox chapter
| image = c95p8f3.png
| image = c95p8f3.png
| major_characters = [[Lucy]], [[Augustus]], [[Mike]], [[Paulo]], [[Daisy]], [[Abbey]], [[Sue]], [[Madison]]
| major_characters = [[Lucy]], [[Augustus]], [[Paulo]], [[Daisy]], [[Abbey]], [[Mike]], [[Madison]]
| minor_characters = [[David]], [[Courtney]], [[Rachel]], [[Jessica]], [[Matt]], [[Jasmine]], [[Haley]], [[Mina]], [[Cassidy]], [[Jordan]], [[Sam]], [[Amaya]], [[Katie]], [[Stacy]]
| minor_characters = [[Sue]], [[David]], [[Amaya]], [[Jasmine]], [[Haley]], [[Mina]], [[Cassidy]], [[Courtney]], [[Jessica]], [[Rachel]], [[Matt]], [[Sam]], [[Jordan]]
| locations = [[Roseville High School]], [[Lucy's house]], [[Abandoned warehouse rooftop]], [[Northern Highway]], [[Neighborhood sidewalks and streets]]
| locations = [[Roseville High School]], [[Lucy's house]], [[Northern Highway]], [[Abandoned warehouse rooftop]], [[Neighborhood sidewalks and streets]]
| collected_in = [[Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Six|Volume Six]]
| collected_in = [[Bittersweet Candy Bowl: Volume Six|Volume Six]]
}}
}}
[[Lucy]] finally walks back into [[Roseville High School|Roseville High]], and [[Abbey]] and [[Daisy]] fall apart in front of the whole cafeteria. The chapter also answers the series' most painful question: who found Lucy on that snowy night?
[[Lucy]] walks back into [[Roseville High School]] at last, [[Abbey]] and [[Daisy]] fall apart in the middle of the cafeteria, and the comic finally shows what happened the night Lucy disappeared. So who is "the boy who saved my life"?


== Synopsis ==
== Synopsis ==
[[Daisy]] turns sixteen on Saturday, and the walk to school is all party plans and affectionate teasing from [[Abbey]] and [[Mike]].<ref name=":c95p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p1}}</ref> The trouble starts at the lockers, where [[Paulo]] pointedly ignores her invitation in favor of flirting with [[Courtney]].<ref name=":c95p2">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p2}}</ref> [[Madison]] then corners him over the way he's been treating [[Rachel]],<ref name=":c95p3">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p3}}</ref> and Paulo slinks off muttering "god I'm sick of women."<ref name=":c95p4">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p4}}</ref> Daisy, meanwhile, frets that Paulo hates her, and Mike offers to talk to him.<ref name=":c95p5">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p5}}</ref>
The chapter opens on the walk to school, where [[Daisy]] is giddy about turning sixteen on Saturday.<ref name=":c95p1">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p1}}</ref> Her party planning hits a snag in the hallway: [[Paulo]] leaps away mid-invitation to go flirt with [[Courtney]] at the lockers.<ref name=":c95p2">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p2}}</ref> [[Madison]] corners him afterward with a flat "Fucking pathetic." and demands he quit stringing [[Rachel]] along.<ref name=":c95p3">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p3}}</ref><ref name=":c95p4">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p4}}</ref>


He walks into something much bigger instead: [[Lucy]] is standing in the classroom doorway, back at [[Roseville High School|Roseville High]] for the first time since [[Breaking Up]].<ref name=":c95p6">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p6}}</ref><ref name=":c75p4">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c75/p4}}</ref> The class mobs her with tearful hugs while Mike hides behind the door frame. Asked whether things have been okay, Lucy laughs, "Definitely not! But, you know. I managed."<ref name=":c95p7">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p7}}</ref>
[[Lucy]], as the school is about to find out, is back. Daisy confides on the way to class that she's sure Paulo hates her now, and [[Mike]] offers to talk to him.<ref name=":c95p5">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p5}}</ref> The offer doesn't survive the classroom door. Mike steps through it and freezes, face to face with Lucy in her old private-school uniform.<ref name=":c95p6">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p6}}</ref>


[[File:c95_p6_panel3.png|alt=Mike stops mid-sentence in the classroom doorway, face to face with Lucy in her private school uniform.|thumb|Lucy's back at Roseville High, and Mike is taking it beautifully.]]
[[File:c95_p6_panel3.png|alt=Mike stands frozen in the classroom doorway, face to face with Lucy, who wears a navy private-school uniform.|thumb|Lucy's first day back, and Mike is the welcoming committee.]]
Lunch goes downhill in a hurry. Lucy would rather walk alone than join the table, and [[Sue]] has to physically hold Paulo back from tagging along.<ref name=":c95p12">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p12}}</ref> Back at the table, Paulo boils over. He yanks Mike backward by his scarf and blames him for Lucy keeping her distance.<ref name=":c95p14">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p14}}</ref> When Daisy objects, he snarls at her too.<ref name=":c95p15">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p15}}</ref> Abbey demands an apology, and Paulo taunts the truth into the open: "A good chokehold set '''me''' straight."<ref name=":c95p16">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p16}}</ref>
The rest of the class is overjoyed. [[David]] lifts Lucy into a tearful hug, and Paulo pounces on her next; a comment about her chest earns him a kick into the ceiling.<ref name=":c95p7">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p7}}</ref><ref name=":c95p9">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p9}}</ref> Mike hangs back through the whole reunion. When the bell rings, he reaches out to her in the crowd, loses his nerve, and says nothing.<ref name=":c95p11">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p11}}</ref>


That revelation is the end of Abbey and Daisy. Daisy is horrified, but at Abbey, not Paulo, and she declares she's not okay with assault. To Abbey it's the last straw, and he dumps her in front of the whole cafeteria: "We're '''DONE!!'''"<ref name=":c95p17">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p17}}</ref> [[Jasmine]] wastes no time pulling him into her friend group, over [[Haley]]'s grumbling.<ref name=":c95p18">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p18}}</ref>
Lunch goes about as badly as a lunch can go. Lucy would rather walk alone than sit with the group.<ref name=":c95p12">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p12}}</ref> Back at the table, Paulo yanks Mike around by his scarf and blames him for Lucy keeping her distance.<ref name=":c95p14">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p14}}</ref> Daisy objects, and he screams her down too.<ref name=":c95p15">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p15}}</ref> [[Abbey]] demands an apology, and Paulo's taunt of "Gonna teach me another lesson?!" spills the secret: Abbey choked Paulo at the con.<ref name=":c95p15" /><ref name=":c95p16">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p16}}</ref>


Lucy's lunchtime walk turns up [[Augustus]], lying in the grass by the track.<ref name=":c95p20">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p20}}</ref> She bursts into tears and leaps into a hug. The sweetness doesn't last: she slaps him for still being stuck at school, his grades wrecked by absences.<ref name=":c95p22">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p22}}</ref> [[Toby]] has been pushing him to drop out entirely, but Lucy refuses to accept it: "Maybe you've given up, but I sure as hell won't!"<ref name=":c95p23">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p23}}</ref>
Daisy's reaction costs Abbey the relationship. Horrified, she asks how badly Abbey hurt Paulo, which Abbey takes as one defense of him too many.<ref name=":c95p16" /> He ends things in front of the entire cafeteria, shouting "You can '''HAVE''' him, then!!" and, on his way out, "We're '''DONE!!'''"<ref name=":c95p17">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p17}}</ref> He barely makes it across the room before [[Jasmine]] invites him to sit with her friends.<ref name=":c95p18">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p18}}</ref>


After school, Lucy brings Augustus home to [[Lucy's house|her startled family]]. Over [[Sam]]'s hostility, she announces: "He's the boy who saved my life."<ref name=":c95p29">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p29}}</ref><ref name=":c95p30">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p30}}</ref> The panel dissolves into snowfall, and the story drops into flashback.
Lucy's walk, meanwhile, leads her straight to [[Augustus]], lying in the grass by the track.<ref name=":c95p20">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p20}}</ref> She bursts into tears and leaps into his arms. Then she slaps him for still being here: the absentee policy held him back a year.<ref name=":c95p22">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p22}}</ref> [[Toby]] is pressuring him to drop out, but Lucy won't hear of it, vowing "This year, I'm gonna fight for you!"<ref name=":c95p23">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p23}}</ref>


The flashback shows the night Lucy tried to kill herself. She wanders a blizzard alone after Mike came to her dressing room before the play, convinced everyone would be better off without her.<ref name=":c95p32">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p32}}</ref> She climbs to [[Abandoned warehouse rooftop|the roof of the old furniture building]] off [[Northern Highway]] and jumps.<ref name=":c95p36">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p36}}</ref> She survives the fall, badly hurt and begging to die. Augustus is the one who finds her in the snow.<ref name=":c95p38">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p38}}</ref> When he pulls out his phone, she screams at him not to make the call, certain he's calling someone else. She blacks out still pleading. The call is for an ambulance: "My friend's trying to kill herself."<ref name=":c95p41">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p41}}</ref>
After school, Lucy brings Augustus home, where her family reacts with alarm.<ref name=":c95p29">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p29}}</ref> She introduces him with a single sentence: "He's the boy who saved my life."<ref name=":c95p30">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p30}}</ref>


Back in the present, Lucy's family takes Augustus in on the spot. Her mom embraces him in tears,<ref name=":c95p42">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p42}}</ref> and her dad offers him the guest room until graduation.<ref name=":c95p45">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p45}}</ref> Augustus insists it must be a prank, right up until Lucy's mom confiscates his filthy jacket for the laundry.<ref name=":c95p46">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p46}}</ref> He caves: "I'd love that, actually.."<ref name=":c95p47">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p47}}</ref> Lucy has conditions of her own: no more skipping school, and Daisy stays off-limits. Augustus agrees to the lot.<ref name=":c95p48">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p48}}</ref> Then [[Jordan]] barges in to waive the scary-big-brother talk, in exchange for SAT tutoring he'll pay for himself.<ref name=":c95p50">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p50}}</ref>
The comic then flashes back to the night she disappeared. Alone in a heavy snowstorm after the school play, Lucy spirals into despair, telling herself that "Everything will be better without me."<ref name=":c95p35">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p35}}</ref> She climbs to the roof of an old furniture building along [[Northern Highway]] and jumps.<ref name=":c95p36">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p36}}</ref> Augustus finds her lying badly hurt in the snow.<ref name=":c95p38">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p38}}</ref> When he opens his phone, she begs him not to call the man who controls him, and blacks out mid-plea.<ref name=":c95p39">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p39}}</ref> His fading dialogue gives the truth away: he is calling an ambulance.<ref name=":c95p41">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p41}}</ref>
 
Back in the present, the family sets about adopting him. Lucy's mother wraps a stunned Augustus in a tearful hug.<ref name=":c95p42">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p42}}</ref> She insists he stay for chicken lasagna, and her dad offers him the guest room until graduation.<ref name=":c95p45">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p45}}</ref> Augustus protests that it must be a prank, then accepts.<ref name=":c95p46">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p46}}</ref><ref name=":c95p47">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p47}}</ref> On the stairs, Lucy sets her terms: no more skipped school days, and Daisy stays off-limits.<ref name=":c95p48">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p48}}</ref> Alone at last, Augustus flops onto his plush new bed and smiles.<ref name=":c95p49">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p49}}</ref> Then [[Jordan]] appears with "knock knock it's knuckles" and begs his sister's savior for SAT tutoring.<ref name=":c95p50">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p50}}</ref>


== Critical moments ==
== Critical moments ==
* Lucy returns to Roseville High, and Mike is the first to see her, frozen in the classroom doorway.<ref name=":c95p6" />
* Mike walks into the classroom and comes face to face with Lucy, back at school after her long absence.<ref name=":c95p6" />
* At the lunch table, Paulo reveals why he really left the con early: Abbey choked him there.<ref name=":c95p16" /> When Daisy condemns the assault, Abbey breaks up with her in front of the whole cafeteria.<ref name=":c95p17" />
* Pressed by Abbey to apologize to Daisy at lunch, Paulo fires back "Gonna teach me another lesson?!" and reveals that Abbey choked him at a convention.<ref name=":c95p15" /><ref name=":c95p16" />
* On her lunchtime walk, Lucy finds Augustus by the track and vows to fight for his future this school year.<ref name=":c95p23" />
* Daisy condemns the assault, and Abbey dumps her in front of the whole cafeteria with a shouted "We're '''DONE!!'''"<ref name=":c95p17" />
* Lucy introduces Augustus to her family as "the boy who saved my life," sending the story into flashback.<ref name=":c95p30" />
* Lucy introduces Augustus to her family as "the boy who saved my life," and the chapter drops into a flashback of the night she disappeared.<ref name=":c95p30" />
* In the flashback, Lucy jumps from the roof of the old furniture building off Northern Highway.<ref name=":c95p36" />
* In the flashback, Lucy jumps from the roof of an abandoned building in a snowstorm. Augustus finds her, and the phone call she takes for a betrayal is him calling an ambulance.<ref name=":c95p36" /><ref name=":c95p41" />
* Augustus finds Lucy broken in the snow. The phone call she takes for a betrayal turns out to be for an ambulance.<ref name=":c95p41" />
* Lucy's dad offers Augustus the guest room until graduation; after insisting the offer must be a prank, Augustus accepts.<ref name=":c95p45" /><ref name=":c95p46" /><ref name=":c95p47" />
* Lucy's dad offers Augustus the guest room until graduation.<ref name=":c95p45" /> After insisting it must be a prank, Augustus accepts.<ref name=":c95p47" />


== Character dynamics ==
== Character dynamics ==
[[File:c95_p49_panel6.png|alt=Augustus lies back on his new bed with his arms spread wide, smiling.|thumb|Augustus settles into the guest room rather quickly.]]
[[File:c95_p49_panel6.png|alt=Augustus lies sprawled on his new bed, smiling blissfully at the ceiling.|thumb|Chicken lasagna, clean laundry, and a bed of his own: Augustus is doing alright.]]
* '''Abbey and Daisy:''' The couple came into the chapter reconciled, with one old sore spot: Daisy taking Paulo's side, which already caused a fight back in [[Golden Hour]].<ref name=":c90p20">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c90/p20}}</ref> Once the chokehold comes out and Daisy calls it assault, Abbey hears one defense of Paulo too many and ends things publicly.<ref name=":c95p17" />
* '''Abbey and Daisy:''' They came into the chapter a strained couple — their fight over Paulo in [[Golden Hour]] never really healed.<ref name=":c90p20">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c90/p20}}</ref> Once the con secret is out, Daisy's sympathy goes straight to Paulo, and Abbey takes it as betrayal.<ref name=":c95p17" /> He dumps her publicly, and by the end of lunch he is sitting at Jasmine's table instead.<ref name=":c95p18" />
* '''Lucy and Augustus:''' Nobody in the friend group knew he'd pulled her back from a rooftop ledge in [[Ten Seconds to Midnight]],<ref name=":c73p13">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c73/p13}}</ref> or that they'd stayed in touch during her absence.<ref name=":c86p35">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c86/p35}}</ref> Now it's all out in the open: she vows to fight for his future, and by nightfall he's living in her family's guest room under her rules.<ref name=":c95p23" /><ref name=":c95p48" />
* '''Lucy and Augustus:''' Their friendship had been a secret from everyone, and it stops being one here. She learns he is stuck, and he learns she means to fight for him.<ref name=":c95p22" /> By nightfall he is living in her family's guest room, on her conditions: full attendance, and "Daisy's '''STILL''' off-limits."<ref name=":c95p47" /><ref name=":c95p48" />
* '''Augustus and Lucy's family:''' He goes from "Who's the creep" to houseguest in a single evening. The reveal earns him her mom's tearful gratitude, her dad's guest room, and a paid tutoring pact with Jordan.<ref name=":c95p29" /><ref name=":c95p45" /><ref name=":c95p50" />
* '''Augustus and Lucy's family:''' The family's first reaction to Augustus is [[Sam]]'s "Who's the creep."<ref name=":c95p29" /> One sentence from Lucy recasts the stranger as her savior.<ref name=":c95p30" /> By the end of the night, her mom is washing his clothes, her dad has handed him a room, and Jordan wants SAT tutoring out of the deal.<ref name=":c95p45" /><ref name=":c95p46" /><ref name=":c95p50" />
* '''Paulo and Mike:''' The two were genuinely close. Paulo was still giving Mike advice about Sandy one chapter earlier in [[Model Girlfriend]].<ref name=":c94p43">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c94/p43}}</ref> Choking him with his own scarf and blaming him for Lucy's distance leaves that friendship in open hostility.<ref name=":c95p14" />


== Trivia & observations ==
== Trivia & observations ==
* Veronica has said the Augustus reveal was planned as "a big surprise," and that he was deliberately kept "barely appearing" in the background until Lucy's return.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/806218240887062528/veronica-this-is-a-very-thoughtful-interesting|date=2026-01-20}}</ref>
* Per Oliver's commentary, Lucy's return came a little under four years after her departure in real time.<ref name=":c95p7" />
* Lucy's flashback self-condemnation, "I'm a parasite," is the exact word Mike threw at her in [[December]].<ref name=":c95p33">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c95/p33}}</ref><ref name=":c68p30">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c68/p30}}</ref>
* Lucy punting Paulo into the ceiling repeats her signature move from his very first day of high school.<ref name=":c95p9" /><ref name=":c21p3">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c21/p3}}</ref>
* Lucy's dad makes his first in-person appearance. Until now he'd only been seen on TV, winning a race qualifier in [[Dinner Time]].<ref name=":c95p29" /><ref name=":c65p19">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c65/p19}}</ref>
* Lucy's dad makes his first in-person appearance here; up to now he had only been seen on TV, winning a race qualifier in [[Dinner Time]].<ref name=":c95p29" /><ref name=":c65p19">{{Cite chapter|url=https://www.bittersweetcandybowl.com/c65/p19}}</ref>
* Veronica has said Augustus was deliberately kept in the background before this chapter so that revealing him as Lucy's savior would come as a big surprise.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/806218240887062528|date=2026-01-20}}</ref>


== Related chapters ==
== Related chapters ==
* '''[[Breaking Up]]''': The chapter this one exists to answer; the flashback here finally shows what put Lucy in that hospital.
* '''[[Ten Seconds to Midnight]]''': On New Year's Eve, Augustus pulled Lucy back from a rooftop ledge; this chapter's flashback is the night that scene was building toward.
* '''[[Ten Seconds to Midnight]]''': Augustus pulled Lucy back from a rooftop ledge on New Year's Eve; this chapter's flashback completes the picture that one left hanging.
* '''[[Breaking Up]]''': The aftermath of the flashback from everyone else's side: Lucy's empty room, the hospital, and Mike being told she isn't coming back.
* '''[[Guest of Honor]]''': The con chapter where Abbey cornered Paulo in a restroom — the assault Paulo exposes here.
* '''[[December]]''': Mike's "I hate you" confrontation — the wound Lucy's flashback self-talk echoes almost word for word.
* '''[[Guest of Honor]]''': Where Abbey cornered Paulo in a convention restroom, the assault Paulo makes public at lunch here.
* '''[[Golden Hour]]''': The phone call Daisy regrets, and the source of Madison's grudge against Paulo.
* '''[[Trapped]]''': Augustus's backstory: Alejandro, Toby's blackmail, and the "circumstances" Lucy passes on to her parents.


== References ==
== References ==

Revision as of 06:54, 12 July 2026

Love Again
Chapter95 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedOctober 26, 2016 (2016-10-26)
Page count50
Major charactersLucy, Augustus, Paulo, Daisy, Abbey, Mike, Madison
Minor charactersSue, David, Amaya, Jasmine, Haley, Mina, Cassidy, Courtney, Jessica, Rachel, Matt, Sam, Jordan
LocationsRoseville High School, Lucy's house, Northern Highway, Abandoned warehouse rooftop, Neighborhood sidewalks and streets
Collected inVolume Six
Chapter navigation
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Lucy walks back into Roseville High School at last, Abbey and Daisy fall apart in the middle of the cafeteria, and the comic finally shows what happened the night Lucy disappeared. So who is "the boy who saved my life"?

Synopsis

The chapter opens on the walk to school, where Daisy is giddy about turning sixteen on Saturday.[1] Her party planning hits a snag in the hallway: Paulo leaps away mid-invitation to go flirt with Courtney at the lockers.[2] Madison corners him afterward with a flat "Fucking pathetic." and demands he quit stringing Rachel along.[3][4]

Lucy, as the school is about to find out, is back. Daisy confides on the way to class that she's sure Paulo hates her now, and Mike offers to talk to him.[5] The offer doesn't survive the classroom door. Mike steps through it and freezes, face to face with Lucy in her old private-school uniform.[6]

Mike stands frozen in the classroom doorway, face to face with Lucy, who wears a navy private-school uniform.
Lucy's first day back, and Mike is the welcoming committee.

The rest of the class is overjoyed. David lifts Lucy into a tearful hug, and Paulo pounces on her next; a comment about her chest earns him a kick into the ceiling.[7][8] Mike hangs back through the whole reunion. When the bell rings, he reaches out to her in the crowd, loses his nerve, and says nothing.[9]

Lunch goes about as badly as a lunch can go. Lucy would rather walk alone than sit with the group.[10] Back at the table, Paulo yanks Mike around by his scarf and blames him for Lucy keeping her distance.[11] Daisy objects, and he screams her down too.[12] Abbey demands an apology, and Paulo's taunt of "Gonna teach me another lesson?!" spills the secret: Abbey choked Paulo at the con.[12][13]

Daisy's reaction costs Abbey the relationship. Horrified, she asks how badly Abbey hurt Paulo, which Abbey takes as one defense of him too many.[13] He ends things in front of the entire cafeteria, shouting "You can HAVE him, then!!" and, on his way out, "We're DONE!!"[14] He barely makes it across the room before Jasmine invites him to sit with her friends.[15]

Lucy's walk, meanwhile, leads her straight to Augustus, lying in the grass by the track.[16] She bursts into tears and leaps into his arms. Then she slaps him for still being here: the absentee policy held him back a year.[17] Toby is pressuring him to drop out, but Lucy won't hear of it, vowing "This year, I'm gonna fight for you!"[18]

After school, Lucy brings Augustus home, where her family reacts with alarm.[19] She introduces him with a single sentence: "He's the boy who saved my life."[20]

The comic then flashes back to the night she disappeared. Alone in a heavy snowstorm after the school play, Lucy spirals into despair, telling herself that "Everything will be better without me."[21] She climbs to the roof of an old furniture building along Northern Highway and jumps.[22] Augustus finds her lying badly hurt in the snow.[23] When he opens his phone, she begs him not to call the man who controls him, and blacks out mid-plea.[24] His fading dialogue gives the truth away: he is calling an ambulance.[25]

Back in the present, the family sets about adopting him. Lucy's mother wraps a stunned Augustus in a tearful hug.[26] She insists he stay for chicken lasagna, and her dad offers him the guest room until graduation.[27] Augustus protests that it must be a prank, then accepts.[28][29] On the stairs, Lucy sets her terms: no more skipped school days, and Daisy stays off-limits.[30] Alone at last, Augustus flops onto his plush new bed and smiles.[31] Then Jordan appears with "knock knock it's knuckles" and begs his sister's savior for SAT tutoring.[32]

Critical moments

  • Mike walks into the classroom and comes face to face with Lucy, back at school after her long absence.[6]
  • Pressed by Abbey to apologize to Daisy at lunch, Paulo fires back "Gonna teach me another lesson?!" and reveals that Abbey choked him at a convention.[12][13]
  • Daisy condemns the assault, and Abbey dumps her in front of the whole cafeteria with a shouted "We're DONE!!"[14]
  • Lucy introduces Augustus to her family as "the boy who saved my life," and the chapter drops into a flashback of the night she disappeared.[20]
  • In the flashback, Lucy jumps from the roof of an abandoned building in a snowstorm. Augustus finds her, and the phone call she takes for a betrayal is him calling an ambulance.[22][25]
  • Lucy's dad offers Augustus the guest room until graduation; after insisting the offer must be a prank, Augustus accepts.[27][28][29]

Character dynamics

Augustus lies sprawled on his new bed, smiling blissfully at the ceiling.
Chicken lasagna, clean laundry, and a bed of his own: Augustus is doing alright.
  • Abbey and Daisy: They came into the chapter a strained couple — their fight over Paulo in Golden Hour never really healed.[33] Once the con secret is out, Daisy's sympathy goes straight to Paulo, and Abbey takes it as betrayal.[14] He dumps her publicly, and by the end of lunch he is sitting at Jasmine's table instead.[15]
  • Lucy and Augustus: Their friendship had been a secret from everyone, and it stops being one here. She learns he is stuck, and he learns she means to fight for him.[17] By nightfall he is living in her family's guest room, on her conditions: full attendance, and "Daisy's STILL off-limits."[29][30]
  • Augustus and Lucy's family: The family's first reaction to Augustus is Sam's "Who's the creep."[19] One sentence from Lucy recasts the stranger as her savior.[20] By the end of the night, her mom is washing his clothes, her dad has handed him a room, and Jordan wants SAT tutoring out of the deal.[27][28][32]

Trivia & observations

  • Per Oliver's commentary, Lucy's return came a little under four years after her departure in real time.[7]
  • Lucy punting Paulo into the ceiling repeats her signature move from his very first day of high school.[8][34]
  • Lucy's dad makes his first in-person appearance here; up to now he had only been seen on TV, winning a race qualifier in Dinner Time.[19][35]
  • Veronica has said Augustus was deliberately kept in the background before this chapter so that revealing him as Lucy's savior would come as a big surprise.[36]

Related chapters

  • Ten Seconds to Midnight: On New Year's Eve, Augustus pulled Lucy back from a rooftop ledge; this chapter's flashback is the night that scene was building toward.
  • Breaking Up: The aftermath of the flashback from everyone else's side: Lucy's empty room, the hospital, and Mike being told she isn't coming back.
  • December: Mike's "I hate you" confrontation — the wound Lucy's flashback self-talk echoes almost word for word.
  • Guest of Honor: Where Abbey cornered Paulo in a convention restroom, the assault Paulo makes public at lunch here.
  • Golden Hour: The phone call Daisy regrets, and the source of Madison's grudge against Paulo.
  • Trapped: Augustus's backstory: Alejandro, Toby's blackmail, and the "circumstances" Lucy passes on to her parents.

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 1
  2. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 2
  3. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 3
  4. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 4
  5. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 5
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 6
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 7
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 9
  9. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 11
  10. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 12
  11. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 14
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 15
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 16
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 17
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 18
  16. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 20
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 22
  18. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 23
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 29
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 30
  21. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 35
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 36
  23. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 38
  24. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 39
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 41
  26. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 42
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 45
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 46
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 47
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 48
  31. ↑ Chapter 95: Love Again, page 49
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Chapter 95: Love Again, page 50
  33. ↑ Chapter 90: Golden Hour, page 20
  34. ↑ Chapter 21: Enter High School, page 3
  35. ↑ Chapter 65: Dinner Time, page 19
  36. ↑ . 2026-01-20 https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/806218240887062528. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
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