Follow Me

Prom talk at lunch nearly outs Sandy's name, Lucy launches a cover-up under the table, a charming stranger keeps telling Daisy exactly what she wants to hear, and Tess's hidden past finally corners her in the freshman hallway.

Follow Me
Chapter	32 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	February 18, 2007 (2007-02-18)
Page count	7
Major characters	Daisy, Augustus, Tess, Lucy, Paulo, Mike, Yashy
Minor characters	Abbey, David, Alec McCain, Jessica, Rachel, Gym Teacher (High School), Amaya
Locations	Roseville High School
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

Yashy insists at lunch that Lucy is Mike's obvious prom date. Mike starts to name someone else before Lucy's juice box bounces off his head. Under the table, Lucy pleads with him not to mention Sandy around Yashy. The pair are nearly nose to nose when Yashy pops up, asking if it isn't "a little old-fashioned to indulge yourselves under the dining table?"

Daisy, watching, murmurs that it's not fair. Behind her, a stranger named Augustus whispers that Mike isn't the only one out there. When Tess challenges him, a pointed jab about "honesty, Tessa" frightens her into silence. Paulo tells him to get lost.

Daisy storms outside in tears and sulks alone on a grassy hill. Being sweet, innocent "Little Miss Perfect" is the problem, she decides — she'd get noticed if she were taller, bustier and sexier.

Augustus doesn't let up at gym class, either. At the pool, he beats Abbey to Daisy's side and offers to see her after school. When Tess confronts him over pestering Daisy, he hints that she's the one hiding a "little secret", and Paulo steps in a second time.

After the bell, Lucy catches up to Daisy and warns her to "be really careful with who you trust". Daisy thanks her, but privately writes the advice off out of envy. She meets Augustus after school anyway. He takes her hand and assures her she made the right decision.

Daisy takes the nice stranger up on his offer.

Tess has an ambush of her own waiting. Jessica and Rachel corner her in the freshman hallway, sneering that it's her turn to feel hunted. Tess tries to apologize. Rachel slaps her across the face, screaming that her brother still can't play soccer after what Tess and Roger did. She is left crumpled against a locker in tears.

Character dynamics

• Daisy and Augustus: Augustus's whole method is telling Daisy exactly what she wants to hear, and it works because she is aching to be noticed. She knows perfectly well he's "a complete stranger", having met him exactly once before, when he flirted with her in Carry On, but his flattery lands squarely on her jealousy and her sense of being invisible. Neither her friends' open distrust nor Lucy's warning slows her down, and by the end of the chapter she has met him alone and taken his hand.
• Tess, Jessica and Rachel: Tess used to be their tormentor, and all three of them know it. Jessica and Rachel were on the receiving end of whatever she and Roger did last year, and Tess has been hiding from her past among the oblivious freshmen. Augustus already knows enough to needle her about "honesty" and a "little secret", and when the two finally corner her, Tess doesn't defend herself for a moment.
• Paulo and Tess: Paulo appoints himself Tess's defender, telling Augustus off at lunch and again at the pool, then offering to walk her to her bus stop. Veronica's commentary confirms he "is getting a lot more protective of Tess" and is "beginning to feel things". Tess's last words of the chapter are an apology to an absent Paulo, dreading the day he hears what she used to be.
• Mike and Lucy: Sandy has been Mike's official girlfriend since the phone call in A New Leaf, and ordinary lunch-table conversation besides. Mike nearly says her name in front of everyone here. Lucy's under-the-table plea creates a standing arrangement: Sandy is not to be mentioned around Yashy. Lucy sells it as protecting Yashy's feelings, and Mike walks away apologetic and complicit.

Trivia & observations

The original lined-paper draft of page 5, shared by the authors in 2017 when a reader asked whether Paulo even knows who Augustus is.

• This is the first appearance of Alec McCain, a character created by T. Ashley Jenkins, creator of the puzzle game Petal Crash. Veronica describes him as "David except opposite in personality" and warns readers not to expect him around regularly.
• The chapter is a remake of an older version. Veronica says the original hill scene had Daisy "really mopey and sad", and she rewrote it to show Daisy's "bitter side" instead.
• Veronica's page 2 commentary fills in why Lucy panics. Yashy once heard girlfriend rumors about Mike and Lucy dismissed them, and news of a girlfriend who isn't Lucy would go down "very VERY badly".
• Lucy's hallway advice comes with an official warning label. Oliver's commentary under page 6 tells readers to "take Lucy's words with a grain of salt, here. Nothing's quite so simple."
• It is also the first appearance of Jessica and Rachel. Veronica's commentary thanks Tess "for inspiring me to make Jessica and Rachel!!!", and she has since said the pair were initially created as victims of Tess, with their later development helping drive the comic's shift toward LGBTQ+ inclusivity.
• The lined-paper draft the authors posted in 2017 shows this chapter's pool confrontation already existed before the remaster, with different dialogue.

Related chapters

• Carry On: Augustus's introduction chapter. He flirts with Daisy at the pool there, so the whisper behind her here is his second approach, not his first.
• Bonding: Two chapters later, the lunch table learns Daisy has been "hanging with that older kid", and Augustus starts working on her opinion of Tess.
• Pillow Talk: A flashback finally shows the history behind page 7: Rachel's brother Aaron in the hospital with his broken arm, Roger's attack on him, and Tess's own bullying of Jessica.
• Just Beautiful: The under-the-table secrecy arrangement finally collapses here. Yashy learns Mike has had a girlfriend for a year, and she does not take it well.