Love My Way

Two "friend dates" unfold side by side: Paulo takes Tess to prom while Mike takes Daisy to the carnival. One night ends in a tearful kiss, and the other ends with Augustus finally showing his true colors, with Abbey caught in the blast.

Love My Way
Chapter	39 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	June 27, 2007 (2007-06-27)
Page count	22
Major characters	Paulo, Tess, Mike, Daisy, Augustus, Abbey
Minor characters	Lucy, Blur, Sandy, Sue, Amaya, Alec McCain, Mina, Cassidy, Craig, Courtney, Justin
Locations	Roseville High School, Mike's house, Paulo's house, Prom Venue, Carnival, Park, Daisy's house
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

The trouble starts before either date does. At the school lunch table, Lucy mentions to Abbey that she saw Daisy at the mall talking with "that weird older kid", and the thought leaves him frozen in horror.

At the prom, Paulo blurts out "Dammit, I love you!" at their quiet table for two. Tess turns him down, and not softly. To her he's still just a kid, and all she wanted was one night of good memories as friends.

A slow song turns the night around. Tess pulls the miserable Paulo onto the dance floor, where he proves hopeless at slow dancing, declares the whole thing stupid, and does the robot instead, which finally cracks Tess up. The mood warms until Paulo bitterly calls the evening a few hours of pretend, and that breaks her. Tess confesses she has fallen for him too, which is exactly why it hurts that they can't be together. The two share a long, tearful kiss in the middle of the dance floor.

One dance, one kiss, and that's the whole romance.

Mike and Daisy's carnival evening, meanwhile, is slowly going sour. Daisy grows friskier ride by ride while Mike keeps slipping out of her hugs. When she throws herself at him during the fireworks, he shoves her off and storms away.

In the darkened park outside, Daisy demands a chance, and Mike's whole answer is Sandy's name. She finally forces a kiss on him. Mike shoves her back, tells her "You.. disgust me." and says she isn't the Daisy he knows.

Mike, at the absolute end of his patience.

Daisy flees sobbing into the trees, where Augustus finds her, and he's finished pretending. The whole plan was his idea, and while Mike will never love this side of her, he will. He backs Daisy against a tree and forces himself on her until a furious Abbey hauls him off. Augustus doesn't fight back. Instead he goads Abbey about his father's abuse, daring him to keep swinging, "Just like Daddy!" Abbey freezes mid-punch and collapses into sobs.

When Augustus cackles about how easy Abbey was to break, Daisy slaps him hard enough to knock him down, and the fall reveals a scar hidden under his hair. Between the scar and his earlier "green eyes" slip she's seen enough, and she orders him gone. Then she holds the sobbing Abbey together and asks what happened to his family. His answer stays behind a black panel. The two spend Daisy's last ride tickets back at the carnival, and her closing narration wonders whether new beginnings sometimes hide in what first look like conclusions.

Critical moments

• At a quiet table away from the prom crowd, Paulo blurts out "Dammit, I love you!" and Tess refuses him. The refusal doesn't survive the slow dance, though — she admits she has fallen for him too, and the pair share a tearful kiss before parting as friends.
• In the park after the fireworks, Daisy forces a kiss on Mike. He shoves her away, tells her she disgusts him, and says she isn't the Daisy he knows.
• Augustus admits the whole "big impression" plan was his, then traps Daisy against a tree and forces himself on her. Abbey arrives just in time to pull him off.
• Augustus goads Abbey with his father's history of abuse and dares him to strike, "Just like Daddy!" Abbey freezes mid-punch and breaks down sobbing rather than hit him again.
• Daisy's slap knocks Augustus down and uncovers a scar beneath his hair. Together with "green eyes", the nickname Alejandro's gang used for Mike in the alley, it tells her exactly who she's been confiding in, and she sends him away.
• Abbey tells Daisy what happened to his family, something he has never told anyone, not even his adoptive parents.

Character dynamics

• Paulo and Tess: Their prom date was pitched as a friends-only night out, the latest turn in a long flirtation between the older girl and the freshman. Tess answers Paulo's confession in both directions at once, admitting she's fallen for him too while refusing to date a boy who has only just started high school. They get their one kiss and deliberately close the romance off.
• Mike and Daisy: An old friendship with a lopsided undercurrent, since Daisy has been infatuated for ages while Mike's heart belongs entirely to Sandy. He only agreed to the evening because he felt he owed her for being a lousy friend lately. The forced kiss burns through the last of his patience, and by the last page Daisy has stopped pretending she can change his mind.
• Daisy and Augustus: Daisy's trusted confidant turns out to have been running her the whole time. She had leaned on him as her secret adviser ever since he sold her the plan at the plaza, and tonight he admits the manipulation to her face before assaulting her. The scar she glimpses afterward tells her he was never who he claimed to be, and she cuts him off with two words: "Just go."
• Daisy and Abbey: His devotion had gone right over her head, something she apologizes for while holding him together in the park. Abbey trusts her with his family's history for the first time ever, and the two finish the night screaming happily on the roller coaster.
• Abbey and Augustus: The two had never met on-panel before tonight, though Abbey admits he had been looking for him over his influence on Daisy. Augustus walks into the fight already armed with Abbey's worst secret, and how he learned it is never explained. They leave the park as open, personal enemies.

Trivia & observations

Veronica's pencil designs for Daisy's carnival outfit.

• Veronica treats this as the true finale of Volume One, calling the Summer Vacation arc that follows "some sorta OVA after a season finale."
• The prom is dotted with Parappa the Rapper 2 cameos, with PJ Berri running the DJ booth. Veronica asks readers to excuse all her Parappa references.
• Tess's ballgown was designed by Lily, Tess's original creator. Veronica notes that Tess arrived as a guest character with her backstory, Roger included, already written.
• Per Veronica's commentary, Augustus's scar "has always been there.. even when Final Fantasy Cat was a side character hitting on Daisy." It wasn't drawn in for the reveal.
• The roller coaster cameos are the first appearances of Mina, Cassidy, Craig and Courtney.

Related chapters

• Rising Temperature: The chapter right before this one, where both dates get arranged. Mike accepts Daisy's couples-only carnival ticket because he feels he owes her, and Augustus talks her into her big plan behind a plaza column.
• Moving On: The next chapter picks things up right away. Augustus reports back to Alejandro's gang, Mike and Daisy make peace at school, and Abbey resolves to see a counselor.
• Confrontation: This is where the "green eyes" nickname comes from. Alejandro uses it for Mike all through the alley attack, which is why Daisy recognizes it here.
• New Beginnings: The bond Daisy and Abbey form here grows into a relationship, and Abbey starts the therapy that begins unpacking his history on-panel.
• At Loose Ends: Abbey's family history, the whole story behind this chapter's black panel, is finally depicted in full.