Humble Approach

Daisy is having the gloomiest school day of her young life, until a turtle sends her face-first into the grass and a polite stranger offers her a hand. Abbey makes his series debut here, and Paulo wastes no time making an enemy of him.

Humble Approach
Chapter	25 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	October 7, 2006 (2006-10-07)
Page count	4
Major characters	Daisy, Abbey, Paulo, David
Minor characters	Mike, Lucy, Tess, Gym Teacher (High School), John, Katie, Stacy
Locations	Roseville High School
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

Daisy drags herself through a whole day at Roseville High School alone, sighing past her friends in the hallway and eating lunch by herself while Paulo and David wage a chocolate milk fight in the background. Out at gym class, Paulo bluntly asks whether she's having an emo day, and Mike admits he noticed too but didn't want to make it worse. Daisy forces a smile and insists she'll be fine. Privately, though, she's thinking "Maybe I should give up.." Then she trips over a turtle and slams into the ground, and a hand reaches down to her.

The hand belongs to Abbey, an Abyssinian cat who turns out to be the top student in Daisy's English class. He helps her up, introduces himself, and gently offers an ear. He's used to seeing her so "chipper" in class, he explains, and he can tell the spark has gone missing. David and Paulo waste no time deciding the whole thing is a pickup attempt, and Paulo insists that no guy ever approaches a girl without sex on his mind. That sets Abbey off. He declares that "a fair maiden like Daisy ought to be treated with dignity and respect", which Paulo finds hilariously medieval, and the two are still bickering when the scene ends.

Lunchtime the next day finds Daisy confessing to Tess that she's had a crush on Mike since fifth grade. She then talks herself into getting over him, thanking Tess for advice the older girl never actually gave ("I didn't really say anything.."). The resolution lasts a few seconds, because Mike wanders over to ask for help with factorization and Daisy wilts on the spot. Abbey joins the table and offers to help Mike too, which earns him a fresh round of grief from Paulo over "Abbey" being a girl's name. He explains he was named after his father, Abraham, and that the full version makes him feel fifty times older. David hears all this and asks to call him "Mr. Lincoln", pulls out a chair for the president, and starts firing finger guns.

Abbey learns the local policy on head-pats.

Abbey then turns his kindness on Lucy, who has been quietly sipping her drink nearby. She insists she's fine, but he doesn't buy it. After some fretting, he pats her on the head and urges her to let others take on her burdens. For one flustered moment it actually works, and Lucy starts to admit he's right. Then she flattens him: "Don't friggin' touch me." Paulo stands over the wreckage and declares that only he is allowed to feel her up.

Sprawled on the cafeteria floor, Abbey mutters that there's no point, until he hears Daisy laughing. She apologizes and tells him that's just how Lucy is. In fact, she's feeling a bit better now, and she thanks him for all his concern as the two share a smile. David gets the last word, naturally. When Abbey roars at him to go away, he answers with more finger guns: "But I'm John Wilkes Booth, Mr. President! With a laser gun!"

Character dynamics

• Abbey and Daisy: They begin the chapter as strangers, more or less. Daisy doesn't quite remember his name, while Abbey has been quietly admiring her "chipper" classroom energy from across English class. One helping hand, one offer to listen, and one very loud defense of her dignity later, Daisy is smiling again and thanking him for his concern. Their first meeting could hardly have gone better, turtle notwithstanding.
• Abbey and Paulo: There was no relationship to speak of before this chapter, and Paulo fixes that in about a page. He decides Abbey's kindness is nothing but a bid to "bone her" and mocks his chivalry as something out of the middle ages, then picks at his name for good measure. Abbey tries very hard to be a gentle soul, but Paulo has him erupting in fury before their first conversation is even over.
• Daisy and Mike: The crush finally gets dated, and fifth grade is a long time to be pining. Still reeling from A New Leaf, where Mike made things official with Sandy, Daisy resolves out loud to find happiness without him. The resolution holds right up until he asks her for math help.
• Abbey and David: David takes the Abraham story and runs with it, dubbing Abbey "Mr. Lincoln" and appointing himself assassin. Abbey accepts the nickname with a weary "I doubt I have a choice in the matter", which is about the size of it.

Trivia & observations

• This chapter is Abbey's series debut. He appears nowhere in the comic before it, and Veronica greets him in the commentary under the second page with "Welcome Abbey to the comic! Hello, Abbey!"
• Per Veronica's commentary, the name came before the backstory. Abbey is an Abyssinian cat, so "Abby" started out as her internal filler name for him. Once the name stuck, she invented his father Abraham, along with Abbey's dislike of his full name, to justify it.
• Lucy is a Khao Manee, a Thai breed, and Veronica notes that patting someone on the head is considered very disrespectful in Thai custom. She says she only noticed the coincidence after the fact, since Lucy hits anyone who touches her regardless.
• Veronica's commentary also insists David's "laser gun" line was not a reference to the webcomic Girly. She only spotted the resemblance after finishing the page.
• The grinning turtle that fells Daisy is on its third victim. Paulo's skateboard hit it back in Simple Pleasures, and it tripped Mike mid-race in Field Day.
• Paulo's "fruitcake" recycles the insult he first aimed at Mike in A New Leaf, and it goes on to become his signature jab at Abbey in later chapters.

Related chapters

• Left Behind: The very next chapter picks up the Lucy thread directly. Paulo touches her shoulder and meets exactly the fate Abbey did here, and Tess's questions about why Lucy is so guarded lead Mike to tell her whole backstory.
• A New Leaf: The source of Daisy's gloom. Mike announces that Sandy is officially his girlfriend, and Daisy breaks down at the table with Tess looking on, which is the scene behind Tess's remark at lunch here.
• Field Day: The turtle's previous outing. It trips Mike in the middle of a race against Lucy, so Daisy is at least in good company.
• Rising Temperature: The first real payoff of the Abbey and Paulo feud. Paulo milks Abbey for essay help while mockingly calling him "Abraham", the full name Abbey admits to disliking in this chapter.