Moving On

Moving On
Chapter	40 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	July 7, 2007 (2007-07-07)
Page count	6
Major characters	Augustus, Alejandro, Mike, Daisy, Tess, Abbey
Minor characters	Toby, Lucy, David, Paulo, Yashy, Katie, Sir Poodles of Noodles, Roger, Janet, Sue, John, Gym Teacher (High School)
Locations	Roseville High School, Abbey's house, Neighborhood sidewalks and streets
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Freshman year wraps up with report cards, a corny toast, and a couple of long-overdue apologies. Meanwhile, in a back alley somewhere, Augustus has been taking notes on the whole group, and Alejandro has plans for them.

Synopsis

The chapter opens in a dim alley, where it turns out Augustus has been playing informant, handing Alejandro a list of the group's classes and after-school hangouts and getting orders to corner and humiliate them. He silently apologizes to Daisy for failing to keep her out of this, and Toby gleefully exposes his crush to the boss. The scene fades out on Alejandro's threat: "Green eyes'll hear from me soon enough.. him and his little girlfriend."

With finals over, Daisy works up the nerve to catch Mike and apologize for the carnival date from Love My Way, only to learn he spent the whole week thinking she was mad at him. Mike apologizes for yelling in turn and asks to go back to the way they were, "WAY back," and Daisy tackle-hugs him on the spot.

At the group's last lunch as freshmen, Tess announces there's something she needs to deal with before the day is out, "a chapter I need to close."

Once the final bell rings, she slips off alone and finds Roger in the deserted halls, chatting up a girl with an '07 graduation tassel. Tess doesn't confront him. She watches for a moment, smiles as a leftover prom poster slips off the wall, and walks away with a quiet "Goodbye, Roger."

The "Senior Prom '07" poster picks a fine moment to give up.

On the walk home, Abbey tells Daisy he's decided to try seeing a counselor over the break, suspecting the way he acts has to do with his father and everything that happened. Daisy promises to have his back all summer long. At home, Abbey nervously opens up to Janet, and she pulls him into an embrace. Daisy watches the hug through the window and heads home as the street lights come on.

Character dynamics

• Mike and Daisy: Neither of them copes well with being on the outs with the other. The carnival blowup turned into a whole week of mutual avoidance, with each of them quietly convinced the other was the angry one. Mike, for his part, forgives easily — Daisy's apology attempt runs straight into his own, and what he wants is to roll the friendship back to well before the drama, admitting he hasn't been a good friend lately. Daisy agrees on the spot.
• Tess and Roger: He was her boyfriend back in her bully days, and he's been out of her life for a while, leaving her to face their old victims alone. Here she finally decides what he means to her now, which turns out to be nothing much. She sees him flirting with someone new, feels no urge to interrupt, and walks off feeling pretty good about it.
• Abbey and Daisy: In Love My Way she became the first person Abbey ever told about his family, and she urged him then that talking can help. Now he acts on that advice, and she pledges to be there every step of the way.
• Abbey and Janet: Janet has had a standing offer to listen whenever Abbey was ready, and as of Love My Way he still hadn't told his adoptive parents a thing. His shaky opener in the living room is the first time he takes her up on it, and she answers with a hug.

Trivia & observations

• Veronica's commentary explains that this chapter was originally meant to be the final page of Love My Way, split off when that chapter grew too long. She compares its role to Aftermath following Confrontation.
• Oliver signs off the final page with "Sayonara, grid comics," making this the last chapter drawn in the comic's grid format.
• The alley conversation plays out partly over completely black panels carrying nothing but dialogue.
• Per Veronica's commentary, Lucy's pose in the lunch scene's final panel is an exact Franziska von Karma pose from Ace Attorney, though not an intentional one.
• Lucy's "If I wanted a fruitcake, I'd talk to Mike" turns Paulo's own favorite insult for Mike back on him.
• This is Roger's first time on-panel. Until this chapter, he had only ever been talked about.

Related chapters

• Love My Way: The chapter this one was split from, and the source of all three threads resolved here. It contains Mike and Daisy's blowup, Augustus's abandoned "big night" for Daisy, and the conversation that convinces Abbey talking can help.
• Invitation: The next chapter picks the counseling thread straight up. Abbey turns down Tess's summer trip because he refuses to miss the appointment he commits to here.
• Confrontation: The source of Alejandro's grudge. He coined the "green eyes" nickname for Mike there, and the bar fight ended with Mike and Lucy beating him. Toby was there too, so this chapter ends a 26-chapter absence for both thugs.
• Bonding: Where Tess's history with Roger was first laid out. Augustus tells Daisy there that Tess used to run with the school bully, terrorizing freshmen at his side.
• Trapped: Shows the alley arrangement still running much later, and fills in how Augustus fell in with Alejandro and Toby in the first place.