Bittersweet Candy Bowl Forums

Although the characters are hormonal teenagers they're not total strangers to the readers, and we have expectations about their behaviours. While reading BCB i've become familiar with the character, i have come to love them and to identify myself with them while i read the story. So there are actions that i can expect from them, others that i wouldn't expect but i take as either a developement or a "fathoming" of their personality, and others that appear totally unexpected or unexplainable.

Michael has made up his mind between Lucy and Sandy, and that is fine, but there are pieces of the puzzle that i still cannot properly place.
In Intervention he looked so annoyed by Lucy's cry, that it looked exaggerated. When he had been rescued a few pages before he had been annoyed to know that Lucy had regained consciousness in the meantime, and i thught that was because he had promised her a long time before that "it wouldn't have happened again" but if at that time he could have believed her when she accused him to have "almost drowned her" i could hardly believe that this time it wouldn't be clear that she actually cared for him. A few pages later Michael explained to Zachary that "she needs me, but that's all", and it seemed a little unfair. What reaction should Lucy have had to disprove his prejudice? I couldn't say.
Then in pick me up they have a little quarrel, but it looks the usual stuff they were used to, and Lucy even starts to apologize.. they end up playing videogames together and all looks fine.. so maybe it was just a bad day to cause Michael to be so annoyed back then in Acapulco? Is it allright now?
Then it comes to the main event: Lucy finally confesses, and Michael's worlds is shaken again, but the strange piece is... "yeah, it was".. did i hear it wrong? He had told Zachary the countrary and nothing exceptional really happened in the meantime. Anyway a sleepless night awaits both of them, so i'd say he DOES care in the end.
And we get to the awkward period, but when Lucy seems hurt he still DOES seem to care even though he chooses not to chase her, until she has her rebound with Paulo and again Michael isn't indifferent to the news and well this is understandable in any case i guess, but it leads us to the rehearsal where Michael is kinda cold to Lucy but not really that much.. we even see he's still sitting near Lucy for lunch in Feline Filibuster .
At this point Michel does begin to detach himself from Lucy avoiding to wish her Happy Birthday .. next chapter and what do you know? Michael seems all happy with his new phone, but still is annoyed to see Lucy talking with August , and seriously, when he sees her she doesn't seem miserable or anyting, so it should be all for the better.. Michael distances himself from her and she demonstrates that she can have other friends, so what's the matter? I could suspect Michael is jealous somehow.
But then again at the end of "carry me" she dares to hug him and suddenly he becomes furious again... nevertheless next chapter shows Lucy and Augustus again, and she's not around for the following Tess'birthday, so i'd assume she is not pestering around Michael.

Aaaand here comes the voltaic key: December. Michael is paranoic from the very beginning. He wrongly presumes he'd be paired with Lucy, he's then cold, but becomes annoyed when Augustus appears again, but ultimately Lucy manages to ease the tension again and here they are, playing videogames again.. BUT Michael looks miserable about that. Not angry, not annoyed, more like guilty. And then comes the bomb: the ghost girlfriend comes real and is visiting.
This should be still fresh enough for everybody, but what follows is not the usual quarrel, and Michael wins the first prize at the lottery of the haters, instantly becoming Roseville's most wanted villain.

When Michael reads the message from Sandy, and then reverts to Lucy his expression changes multiple times. After disbelief and joy i could read sadness and guilt before turning back to the cold expression that he had reserved for Lucy around "pillow talk". At first he tries to just avoid the matter andsend her away, which is not a very smart move.. -what with the essay?- then he tells her of Sandy and studies her reaction. He complains that she tries to talk to him.. what crime is that? And then he shouts "i hate you",but he's in tears, and he looks away for a moment... are those really tears of anger?
After complaining for her abusive behaviour he says that "People were nice to me as long as i played nice with you. And i gave in." but that really seems to be coming out of nowhere. And then he goes on in what looks a cruel and unnecessary rage on her, until he hears his mother arrive and walks away from the conversation. When he returns he has to force himself back to the steel face before going in.

Ok these are the events, and here comes the speculation.
The rage Michael released on Lucy seemed excessive. It is ok to try and sever bonds, but if Michael had put 20 to 50 effort on it previously, this was over 9000! This is the kind of thing that coliides with the idea of Michael i previously had and forces me to try and find a different explanation.
Let's suppose that Michael had not really chosen Sandy in his heart, but that he was still conflicted. He had felt guilty in the past towards Lucy for having ignored her while he had been with Sandy, and during "pillow talk" we have seen how he had once confessed to Lucy. I wouldn't even say she had really rejected him then, it looked more like "i'm not ready yet".
Then time passed and Lucy did never show desire to make progress in their relationship, while he had instead the chance to hear from Sandy and be assured that she still loved him. Problem seemed solved in what might have been the merriest time for Michael: no need to choose between the distant yet promising relationship and the friendship with the stubborn girl you have always enjoyed.
But here comes back the drama, with ghosts of the past reviving and Lucy becoming more obvious with him. At Acapulco she made a scene that suited a girlfriend more than a friend, and maybe he was thinking "you are too late dammit", maybe when he told Zachary that Lucy didn't love him he was actually lying to himself, to deny the problem.
Then Lucy briefly goes back to normality and maybe Michael has himself convinced with his own lie, but it was obvious..."Yeah it was" and when Lucy confesses it all collapses. He has chosen Sandy already, she trusts and loves him, and he doesn't want to cheat on her nor turn her down after she has been waiting for him all this time as well, so no matter what their friends say, he can't change his mind now. He still cares about Lucy, he still probably loves her and doesn't want to hurt her, and he is jealous of her attempted rebound on Paulo, but that's even worse because he cannot be jealous of a girl other than Sandy. So there's only a choice, and that is distance himself from Lucy. It does not matter if she manages to behave as just a friend, he can't allow himself to fall back on his decision. The best idea would be to leave the table, but then their friends would be compelled to choose between him and Lucy, and he could not force them to stay with Lucy and bear the consequencies by himself alone.

For a while staying away from Lucy seems to work but he can't be indifferent seeing him fingering Augustus, so his little conflict is never really soothed, and when she hugs him at the rehearsal he takes it as a big annoyance again. Finally in December there's the essay: he has been focused on staying away from Lucy and yet the univers conspires against him. Or not, but in the end he's stuck with her anyway. He just acts as cold as he can, but again he's not indifferent to the sight of Augustus, and he just can't keep the iron mask till the end and he eventually loosens up.
When tey move to Michael's house he tries to be cold again, but they go back to the old times and the atmosphere becomes almost romantic between them: he is loosing the grip, and all he has done to seal Lucy out of his heart has been useless. He realizes that and feels all the guilt. And then comes Sandy's nuclear strike.
In the space of four panels and in maybe less seconds, after reading the text, Michaels renews his resolve, rebuilds the iron mask and tries to push Lucy away. But this won't work, he has already had the proof that he cannot kill these feelings just being cold to her. He has to do more, even if it will hurt her there is no choice. And he tells her he hates her, god is this more painful to her or to him? but it is still not enough... he has to make her hate him. And there goes the rage, he tells her the worst things he can think of. He tells her even that he'll steal her friends.. maybe this way she'll cling more to them and they will stay with her when he'll leave the table.
He then starts to go too far, tells her that nobody can love her for what she is, he doesn't even know how to end this unless she breaks down and runs away in tears. And then Michael's mom arrives and he finds the opportunity to end it and leave her for a while. When he's back he has to put up the angry face again to finish the work and see her off, but at the first glance of her from behind his face looks more concerned than angry. Fortunately he won't have to fight that battle anymore, and he looks almos surprised that she is neither in tears nor fighting back. While Lucy walks away and Michael closes the door of his room he glances back with sorrow for a second, but things look like they have sorted out. He finally has done what had to be done and now he can be faithful to Sandy.

In the end this is what i think could put into place the pieces of the puzzle that i felt remained vacant. This would also give a sense to Michael freaking out hearing of Lucy from Sandy, because it meant that while he thought to have painfully sorted things out everything had been for nothing.

Ok, now don't tell me i hadn't warned you about the wall of text, ok?
Love