PDA

PDA
Chapter	99 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	December 4, 2017 (2017-12-04)
Page count	6
Major characters	Madison, Jessica, Lucy
Locations	Roseville High School
Collected in	Volume Seven
Chapter navigation
← Moments Apart	High Expectations →
Read chapter

Madison finally catches Lucy alone in a hallway and unloads every grievance she's been saving up, threats and all. It's a shame nobody warned her about Lucy's ears. Luckily, Jessica knows just how to patch up a bruised ego.

Synopsis

Madison starts the day in a lovely mood, humming her way to her locker. Then Lucy walks past, and the smile snaps into a glare. Madison points at her back and lets rip: "YOU!!!" The insults come thick and fast, but Lucy just keeps walking.

The tirade starts collapsing almost immediately. Madison warns Lucy to stay away from Jessica, who is spoken for and very happy. "I.. um.. hope, anyway." From there she spirals into a breathless speech about how Jessica is honestly too good for her, then scolds herself out loud for tearing herself down again. Of course, she blames Lucy for distracting her.

Madison does find her footing for a sincere finish. She loves Jessica, she tries her hardest to make her happy, and she's sure Lucy made Jessica sad by flirting with some boy — the Somali one, or maybe the Korat. Hurt Jessica again, she warns, and Lucy will be answering to her. Lucy walks off without a glance, and Jessica pipes up from behind: "I don't think she heard a word of that."

Jessica, losing her fight against laughter, explains that Lucy is half-deaf. Between that and some noisy freshmen down the hall, she tuned Madison out completely. Madison is scandalized. "What?! That sucks!!" She vows to get Lucy back for this.

One quick check of the hallway first, naturally.

Jessica has a sweeter remedy in mind. She calls Madison over, takes one careful look around, and kisses her on the lips. Madison freezes solid, beet red with steam rising off her head. "I love you. You're adorable!" Jessica tells her, adding that she runs circles around Lucy anyway. The two head off arm in arm, Madison fishing for more compliments and Jessica laughing at her to stop.

Character dynamics

• Madison and Jessica: A couple since their debut in Golden Hour, though Madison has privately feared she's just a stand-in for Lucy ever since David suggested as much. Here Jessica witnesses the whole embarrassing spiral and answers it with reassurance rather than teasing. The kiss and the "I love you" are both on-panel firsts, in the first chapter to show the relationship directly rather than secondhand.
• Madison and Lucy: Until now the grudge has run one way and at a distance: the mistaken-name blow-up in Table for One, then the profane outburst at Lucy's return in Love Again. This is Madison's first real confrontation, and Lucy misses all of it, so from her side the feud still doesn't exist. Madison just comes away with a fresh vow of revenge.

Trivia & observations

• The publicly unlocked "Page Deconstruction" post for this chapter reveals two discarded scripts: Lucy yelling back in confusion (dropped as "not very.. interesting") and Lucy jokingly flirting with Madison to fluster her ("a terrible idea"). The scene was originally conceived to show Lucy's maturity in not lashing out.
• Lucy has no dialogue and never turns around once in the whole chapter. Her deaf left ear goes back to Show and Tell, which also ran the original version of this gag: Yashy chattering away at a Lucy she believed couldn't hear her.
• The "IDIOT SOMALI BOY" is Paulo and "the Korat" is Mike; both breed labels come from Show and Tell too, making Madison's garbled version a rather deep-cut wink.

Related chapters

• Golden Hour: Madison's debut, the couple reveal, and the origin of the Lucy-replacement fear behind this rant.
• Love Again: Lucy returns to school, and the mere sight of her reignites Madison's grudge.
• Pillow Talk: The story behind Jessica having "gone through a LOT": Craig's coercion, Tess's rumor campaign, and her original brawl with Lucy.