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
Chapter navigation
← Love My Way	Invitation →
Read chapter

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. He admits to Toby that he's given up on his "new girlfriend," since he wanted it to be her decision. Then Alejandro arrives to collect. Augustus hands over a list of the group's classes and after-school hangouts, and gets orders to find a way 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. Alejandro lets it slide for now, and the scene fades out on his threat: "Green eyes'll hear from me soon enough.. him and his little girlfriend."

Back at school, finals are over, and Daisy works up the nerve to catch Mike after Mr. Noodles wishes his class a safe summer. Walking to class, she starts apologizing for "that night," the carnival date from Love My Way, only to learn Mike spent the whole week thinking she was mad at him. As it turns out, Mike is sorry too. He apologizes for yelling at her and asks to go back to the way they were, "WAY back," before all the recent drama, since he figures he's been a bad friend lately. Daisy tackle-hugs him on the spot. The two only notice they're blocking the doorway once half their friends are standing around watching.

Results day goes well for nearly everyone. Lucy just barely scrapes into CP English II, and Paulo's over-eager cheering earns him a glare before he retreats to "You're hot. And stuff." Daisy celebrates making Honors II while Mike gets ambushed with one last personal essay. Over in English I, the sneering teacher's mockery backfires when David learns he made CP English II too. Katie theatrically begs him not to leave her, offering to fulfill his every desire. He settles for a back scratch and bolts with her clinging to his leg.

The group's last lunch as freshmen features a corny toast, with David hoisting a wine glass nobody can explain. Tess turns wistful. She might not share a lunch period with the younger kids next year, and she's already looking ahead to senior year and college, news Paulo takes rather badly. First, though, she has something to deal with before the day is out, "a chapter I need to close." Lucy bluntly asks, "Is it related to that thing about everybody hating you?" David scores it a "critical hit," and Mike just yells at Lucy.

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

The final bell sets off a school-wide cry of "FREEDOM!", but Tess isn't ready to celebrate just yet. While David announces a party at his house, she slips off alone to settle her unfinished business, gently turning down a crestfallen Paulo's offer to come along. In the deserted halls she finds Roger chatting up a girl who's showing off 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 satisfied: "Goodbye, Roger."

On the walk home, Abbey tells Daisy he's decided to try seeing a counselor over the break, prompted by what she said before. The way he acts isn't normal, he says, and he suspects it has to do with his father and everything that happened. Daisy hugs him and promises to have his back all summer long. Once he's home, Abbey nervously reminds Janet that she once said she'd always be there when he was ready to talk, and she pulls him into an embrace. Daisy watches the hug through the living room window, smiles, and heads home as the street lights come on.

Character dynamics

• Mike and Daisy: Estranged since the carnival date, with each spending the week convinced the other was angry. Daisy's apology attempt runs straight into Mike's own, and he asks to rebuild the friendship from well before the drama, admitting he hasn't been a good friend recently. Daisy happily agrees.
• 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. Fittingly, five of its six pages went up on a single day.
• 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.