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* Jessica's "You're a cat" brush-off is this arc's first on-page statement of the cat-and-dog dating barrier. Veronica's commentary under the page adds that, like [[Janet]] and [[Kevin]], Paulo and Jasmine are set up as a cat/dog relationship "that doesn't really have a future."<ref name=":c54p12" />
* Jessica's "You're a cat" brush-off is this arc's first on-page statement of the cat-and-dog dating barrier. Veronica's commentary under the page adds that, like [[Janet]] and [[Kevin]], Paulo and Jasmine are set up as a cat/dog relationship "that doesn't really have a future."<ref name=":c54p12" />
* This is the first appearance of both Jasmine and Mina, and the first time Amaya's job at the theater is shown.<ref name=":c54p21" /><ref name=":c54p23" />
* This is the first appearance of both Jasmine and Mina, and the first time Amaya's job at the theater is shown.<ref name=":c54p21" /><ref name=":c54p23" />
* Amaya never speaks on panel here, but Veronica has since pointed to this chapter when discussing whether she and Sue talk: "it's been established they talked as early as Back and Forth."<ref name=":c54p25" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/806580644348067840|title=Veronica on Tumblr|website=Tumblr|date=2026-01-24}}</ref>
* Amaya never speaks on panel here, but when the question of whether she and Sue talk came up later, Veronica cited this chapter: "it's been established they talked as early as Back and Forth."<ref name=":c54p25" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bittersweetcandybowl.tumblr.com/post/806580644348067840|title=Veronica on Tumblr|website=Tumblr|date=2026-01-24}}</ref>


== Related chapters ==
== Related chapters ==

Revision as of 12:28, 14 July 2026

Back and Forth
Chapter54 of 127 (list of chapters)
PublishedApril 16, 2010 (2010-04-16)
Page count33
Major charactersPaulo, Lucy, Jessica, Rachel, Jasmine, David, Tess
Minor charactersMike, Daisy, Abbey, Amaya, Mina, Sue, Augustus, Stacy, Katie, Alec McCain, Lani Amalu, Gym Teacher (High School)
LocationsRoseville High School, Paulo's house, Rachel's house, Drive-in theater, Roseville cinema
Collected inVolume Two, Omnibus 1
Chapter navigation
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A dented ego sends Paulo chasing two juniors and a freshman in quick succession. The spree costs him his virginity, most of his dignity, and very nearly his hide once Lucy and Tess catch up with him.

Synopsis

Lucy has been awfully warm toward Paulo lately. She spends class stealing fond glances at him, and when she asks to borrow his notes, his notebook turns out to hold nothing but a drawing of himself as a kaiju stomping buildings.[1] The two are still laughing together at lunch when David decides something is wrong (Lucy is happy) and pulls Paulo aside with the excuse "I'm menstruating."[2]

David wants to know whether the two are an item. Paulo admits they fooled around but that he turned her down, just as he once got cold feet with Tess, and David mocks all that restraint mercilessly.[3][4] Nursing his pride, Paulo vows to honor eighth grade Paulo and "bag as many chicks as I can muster!!"[5]

Jessica ends up first, mostly by accident. She yells at Paulo for blocking her locker, and his apology date only interests her once he claims Tess would be jealous.[6] Jessica talks them past the bouncer of a 21+ club with a fake ID, and a few drinks later the two are dancing drunk together.[7] The night ends in the club's out-of-order restroom, where Paulo loses his virginity.[8] Jessica then mentions that her friend Rachel has a crush on him, and cheerfully admits she took him out knowing it.[9]

Lucy slaps Paulo across the face hard enough to make his tail crinkle.
Lucy shares her thoughts on the Rachel development.

Rachel says yes the very next morning, and Lucy is around the corner to see it. She marches up and slaps Paulo across the face, and her fury lasts all day, including a basketball to his head in gym ("I missed.").[10][11] That night, Paulo flees straight into Rachel's arms.[11]

The drive-in date is genuinely lovely right up until the end. Rachel takes him to an empty showing of Casablanca, real warmth builds, and she lures him into the backseat mid-snack-run.[12] Afterward she giggles that "It's just been a while since I bagged a virgin! ♥", and Paulo is wrecked all over again.[13] He confesses his misery to David, whose booming advice is to go younger.[14]

After a short but sincere fling with studying, Paulo lets David twist his head toward three passing freshman girls.[15] He charms the trio without breaking a sweat, picks Jasmine, and pedals her to the Eagle Cinema by bike.[16][17] Amaya's thumbs-up gets them into an R-rated gorefest, which terrifies Jasmine until an absurd splatter noise sends them both into fits of laughter.[18][19] The goodnight on her porch is sweet, awkward and kiss-free — and Amaya, who saw them at the theater, dials Sue's number.[20][19]

The bill arrives the next morning, when Jessica and Rachel corner Tess at her locker. Middle fingers raised, they announce "WE BANGED HIM", that he was a virgin, and that the whole affair was revenge on her.[21] Tess storms off and collides with Lucy, who has heard about the freshman date from Sue, and the two race each other down the hall.[22][23]

They find Paulo needling Mike about his lead role, and the girls descend on him in unison, screaming "PAULO YOU MAN WHORE!!"[24] Paulo snaps back at Tess that she should make up her mind about whether she even cares.[23]

Then Lucy cuts through everything with a devastated near-confession: "You rejected me.. But you slept with.. .. these random.. What AM I to you?!"[23] Tess is stunned, and Mike starts sneering at her expense.[25] When Jessica and Rachel arrive to gloat, Lucy punches Jessica square in the face.[25]

Scanning the crowd, Paulo lands on the one face that truly rattles him. Daisy is watching from the mob, troubled, with Abbey's arm around her shoulders.[25] That's when Jasmine glomps him from behind with a cheery "SURPRISE! ♥"[25] Her friend Mina bursts in playing stern chaperone, and Jasmine loads Paulo up with her books and strolls him out of the wreckage.[26]

Down the hall, Jasmine takes her books back and reveals the whole act was a plan to get him clear of the mess.[27] An awed Paulo relaxes, and Jasmine gently notes they're not even official yet. He holds out his hand. "Here. Let me carry those books."[27]

Critical moments

Jessica and Rachel face Tess with middle fingers raised, declaring "WE BANGED HIM".
Jessica and Rachel break the news to Tess as gently as they know how.
  • Mocked by David for turning down both Tess and Lucy, Paulo vows to honor "eighth grade Paulo" and bag as many girls as he can.[5]
  • Paulo loses his virginity to Jessica in a club restroom, then learns she took him out knowing her friend Rachel liked him.[8][9]
  • After their drive-in date, Rachel giggles that she "bagged a virgin", and a crushed Paulo takes David's advice to try someone younger.[13][14]
  • Jessica and Rachel reveal to Tess that they both slept with Paulo, and that the whole scheme was revenge on her.[21]
  • In front of half the school, Lucy blurts out "What AM I to you?!", laying bare how much she had invested in Paulo.[23]
  • Jasmine's surprise glomp and Mina's chaperone act pull Paulo out of the brawl, a rescue Jasmine later reveals was planned.[25][27]

Character dynamics

  • Paulo and Lucy: The chapter opens with the two closer than ever. Lucy had come to Paulo in pieces after Mike rejected her, and he refused to take advantage[28] — the exact restraint David mocks him for here.[4] Learning he then slept with two juniors turns all that warmth into public devastation, and they end the chapter openly hostile.[23]
  • Paulo and Jasmine: Strangers at the start, unofficial-but-together by the end. Their one date is built on shared laughter, and her cool-headed rescue from the brawl wins Paulo over completely.[19][27] It's the only relationship in the chapter that ends better than it started.
  • Paulo and Jessica: She goes from yelling at Paulo over a locker to taking his virginity. The reveal shows none of it was ever about him — the date was a shot at Tess.[6][21] By the end there's nothing between them but indifference.
  • Paulo and Daisy: Daisy barely says a word all chapter, but she's in Paulo's head anyway. The flashback shows thoughts of her giving him cold feet with Tess,[4] and during the brawl it's her troubled look from the crowd that sends him into a panic.[25]

Trivia & observations

  • Veronica's commentary calls this her most challenging chapter to draw since Search and Rescue, while Oliver calls it "a beloved chapter by many, including me."[1]
  • Rachel's design was revised for this chapter. Per Veronica's commentary, this is where she gained her "iconic swirl" hairstyle.[10]
  • Jessica's "You're a cat" brush-off is this arc's first on-page statement of the cat-and-dog dating barrier. Veronica's commentary under the page adds that, like Janet and Kevin, Paulo and Jasmine are set up as a cat/dog relationship "that doesn't really have a future."[9]
  • This is the first appearance of both Jasmine and Mina, and the first time Amaya's job at the theater is shown.[16][18]
  • Amaya never speaks on panel here, but when the question of whether she and Sue talk came up later, Veronica cited this chapter: "it's been established they talked as early as Back and Forth."[19][29]

Related chapters

  • Another Shoulder: This chapter shows the night Paulo turned down a sobbing Lucy on his bed, the event replayed in his flashbacks and thrown back at her during the brawl.
  • Return: The other flashback comes from here, where thoughts of Daisy gave Paulo cold feet with Tess.
  • Love My Way: Tess rejected Paulo's prom confession for his own good, then kissed him anyway. That's the mixed signal he finally rails against in the hallway.
  • Up to Bat: The Paulo and Jasmine relationship begun here gets a date chapter of its own shortly afterward.
  • Pillow Talk: Jessica's grudge against Tess is finally explained in full there, and she and Paulo make their peace.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 1
  2. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 2
  3. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 3
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 4
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 5
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 6
  7. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 8
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 10
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 12
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 13
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 14
  12. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 15
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 17
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 18
  15. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 19
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 21
  17. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 22
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 23
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 25
  20. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 26
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 27
  22. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 28
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 30
  24. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 29
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 25.3 25.4 25.5 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 31
  26. ↑ Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 32
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Chapter 54: Back and Forth, page 33
  28. ↑ Chapter 52: Another Shoulder, page 10
  29. ↑ "Veronica on Tumblr". Tumblr. 2026-01-24.
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