Midterm Time

Midterms loom at Roseville High, and stress levels are through the roof! Daisy takes it upon herself to whip Tess into academic shape, but her tough-love tutoring is a far cry from the gentle treatment her beloved "Mikie" gets. Will Daisy's hard work be enough, or is this one test she can't ace?

Midterm Time
Chapter	29 of 127 (list of chapters)
Published	January 12, 2007 (2007-01-12)
Page count	5
Major characters	Mike, Daisy, Tess
Minor characters	Lucy, Paulo, David, Abbey, Math Teacher
Locations	Roseville High School, Daisy's house
Collected in	Volume One, Omnibus 1
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Synopsis

Tess is dreading midterms, and when Daisy offers to tutor her, she is skeptical that a student two years younger could even handle her classes. Lucy settles the question by handing over Daisy's report card, which shows straight A+ grades alongside a heart-topped doodle of Mike's face, much to Daisy's mortification. When Lucy starts filling an oblivious Mike in on the doodle, a crazed, blushing Daisy rushes over and punches her square in the face.

Daisy turns out to be a drill sergeant of a tutor, rapping rulers over wrong answers and even making Tess jog while quizzing her on U.S. presidents. Mike's dreamy raving about what a sweet, patient tutor Daisy is has Tess rounding on her for favoritism, but Daisy sees nothing unfair about it, since "Mikie" only needed a little English revision while Tess needed five whole classes re-taught.

Daisy's tutoring service is rather different when you're Mikie.

In math class, meanwhile, David scoffs that nobody uses math in real life, then answers his despairing teacher's question about his career plans with a vacant "An astronaut." Mike ends up physically holding the enraged teacher back.

On midterm day, Tess opens her booklet and is stunned to realize she knows all of it, the questions even easier than Daisy's practice tests. One room over, Daisy opens her own booklet and freezes, having forgotten to study for her own exam, and her over-tutored brain can only produce chemistry terms. After the exam, an ecstatic Tess runs off to thank her tutor, only for a frazzled, frizz-furred Daisy to loom up behind her and choke her with a low "You ruined me..", while Lucy snickers.

Character dynamics

• Tess and Daisy: The two barely knew each other before this chapter, and Tess's opinion of the "brainiac" skipped into her junior math class was not exactly glowing. Daisy's tutoring closes that gap the hard way. She is far tougher on Tess than she ever is on Mike, a double standard Tess calls out as unfair. The dedication behind it is real, though, and by exam morning there's genuine warmth between them, sealed with a pep talk and a high five. Hopefully the strangulation in the final panel doesn't leave a mark.
• Daisy and Mike: The heart-topped doodle on Daisy's report card says plenty about her feelings, and she would sooner punch Lucy in the face than let Mike hear about it. Mike remains blissfully oblivious, praising Daisy to Tess as "the sweetest tutor ever". Apparently, she even bakes him treats!
• Mike, Paulo and Abbey: Paulo doesn't need a reason to be down on Mike, and good news out of Mike's mouth is provocation enough. Making honor roll earns him nothing but a curt "Loser." Abbey plays the counterweight, congratulating Mike warmly and needling Paulo over how easily Mike gets under his skin.
• Daisy and Lucy: Lucy spends the chapter treating Daisy's secrets as public property, from handing Tess the report card to very nearly telling Mike about the doodle. For that, Daisy punches her in the face — the first time anyone in the friend group has ever hit Lucy. There are no hard feelings, if the ending is anything to go by. Lucy is back to snickering "Pff." at Daisy's misfortune by the last page.

Trivia & observations

• Veronica says the whole chapter began with a reader complaining that Tess was "too perfect", pointing to her generous tip to the carollers in Feline Festivities. The idea that Tess is unimpressive at school snowballed from there.
• "Lebensraum", which Daisy drills into Tess mid-meditation, is a real Nazi-era concept meaning "living space", used to justify German territorial expansion.
• Tess jogging in a tracksuit while being drilled on U.S. presidents is a clear shout-out to Rocky's iconic training montage.
• Veronica has said "Algeom" is based on a real remedial class at her own high school, for students who couldn't get into regular Algebra.
• Daisy's fur frizzing up under stress is her "half Selkirk Rex gene" at work, per Veronica, who promises the trait will be back ("Rain and stress — Daisy's worst enemies"). Her curls previously frizzed up in the rain in Helping Hands.
• Daisy's lovestruck doodle has a mirror in Unfulfilled Fantasy, where Mike doodles Sandy on his own schoolwork.
• On Tumblr, Veronica has named Midterm Time as a chapter that captures "Daisy's unintentional bluntness.. she says what she thinks a lot of the time".

Related chapters

• Feline Festivities: The chapter immediately before this one, in which Tess tips the Christmas carollers fifty dollars. Lucy witnessed that tip, and she clearly still has it in mind when she advises slipping the teacher a fifty.
• Enter High School: The math teacher makes his debut there, vowing to get every one of his students into calculus. It's also where Daisy is skipped into Tess's junior-year math class, which she brings up when offering to tutor.
• Bonding: Daisy remembers this chapter's tutoring in a flashback, ruler smack and all, noting that Tess "passed those midterms.. eventually!"
• Safe Boundaries: Years down the line, Daisy tutors Tess through another round of midterms, and Tess once again thanks her for all the help.