Bittersweet Candy Bowl

This is crazy but also in a way im not surprised.

No, absolutely, and it was justified and good, and the results will only be justified and good; an unselfish act done nobly /s

That was fun for Augustus? Nope

Mike’s a total ponce for this, but what Augustus’ intent is sucks to high heaven. This legitimately feels justified, Augustus? And Mike, the hell is wrong with you? Sublimate your emotional cowardice in a healthier fashion.

I gripe and grouse, but this is fascinating to watch, if not frustrating and bad for everyone involved. Whatever the hell Mike and Sandy had isn’t worth any of this garbage, and that has been obvious from the outset. Good on Ver for writing such engaging drama

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with how Augustus handled this. Pressing onto Mike into a corner especially when he was abiding to his rules, he had followed through on not bothering Lucy although being at school they will be prone to be in close spaces. But on the other hand Mike also responded to the situation very terribly, he allowed his bottled emotions get the best of him instead of clearing himself and allowing to explain his side. I although dislike that Augustus went out of his way to INVADE Mike which people seem to keep overlooking and making it seem like it’s Mike invading Lucy when Augustus brought it to her by him invading Mike. Now Lucy also has to weight the burden that a stranger knows her past and any leading problems that revolve on Mike will only come back to her. Hopefully everyone gets the help that they all need.

There is no justice to any of this. Just frustrated youth and more heartbreak ahead. I worry for those that are just trying to get along.

Well said. It’s hard to say what will happen after this, if staff will get involved and parents called, considering back to the table smash Mike did to Paulo and then was shrugged off I wonder if this will lead to more tension between the group and someone finally speaking up about it because at this rate it just seems a run to make one person look bad in front of everyone.

Ah shit you’re right

To me it looks more of him feeling ashamed at allowing himself to burst into violence in front of what he believes is his only last close friend.

He’s sweating… , his body is in trauma from past physical abuse.

I think those are fear sweats, he has experienced violence before, he also looks very much that he was expecting more in the first panel

But yeah, you are right, this benefited no one

It’s a shame, somewhere i was hoping that Mike and Lucy being confronted could have lead to them atleast trying to talk out their issues but the air was just too hostile for that

I was between sweat or tears yeah, and the former may still be the case, but unless it’s just a stylistic choice the droplets forming over his bangs doesn’t really make sense for sweat imo. But either way, point is that Lucy is clearly stressed and worried about Augustus in this instance, and his reaction to Lucy checking on him is to… laugh about Mike making himself look bad? Just makes it look like Lucy isn’t his actual priority in the moment. Not even an “I’m okay” to calm her down before making another dig at Mike.

If I’m being honest, he just made things harder for Lucy and Mike to ever one day make up

He just cause an even bigger rift of any chance of a true make up, and likely strained his relationship with Lucy now too

That’s a stylistic choice. Like wĥen you see eyebrows behind bangs in anime. If Lucy was crying on him, that would’ve been the first thing he would look at. And if she did cry it would have been because Augustus got hurt + stress from the situation. You guys are weird for thinking this will fuck up his friendship with Lucy. She LET him talk, and lucy doesn’t shy away from stopping someone. Worst case is her scolding him after this.

I’m not necessarily saying it will ruin her relationship with Augustus. But it’s definitely a good indicator that, regardless of Augustus’ original intent, none of this is actually helping Lucy, and has a very good chance of causing her more stress as a result of this encounter. Like I said, this helps no one.

The interesting thing about her nightmares is that all of her friends BUT Mike have been in them. It’s understandable that Auggie would assume Mike’s the cause of Lucy’s sour mood since she refuses to tell him about the nightmares being the cause (not that she’s obligated to), but it actually seems like Mike’s not her biggest problem right now.

To be fair, we’ve yet to see Alejandro’s face in Lucy’s nightmares, and a theory I’ve seen floating around is that it’s actually Mike in Alejandro’s clothes, basically mixing the two traumatic events in her subconscious. But it could very well be just a “what if” scenario where she’s stressing over being in that situation with Alejandro without any of her friends there to help, especially Mike who was the one who actually stepped in and did most of the fighting alongside her due to his martial arts training mixed with drunken confidence. In other words, internalizing her fears about what would have happened if she really was as alone as Mike made her feel. Either way, while I definitely dont think she needs more contact with Mike, I don’t see less contact really helping or changing all that much either. But this is all working off of information we as the audience have, and I don’t necessarily blame Augustus for coming to the conclusion that Lucy seeing Mike less would be to her benefit after everything he’s done to hurt her, both intentionally and not. But all his methods… they ain’t it, chief. This is just hurting Mike as a means to an end that he THINKS will help Lucy. So if it doesn’t…

Honesty don’t buy it that he planned it with how his facial expressions are telling us.

I think he legit didn’t plan that outcome or expected it, but got Mike to make himself look even worse

Maybe it wasn’t Augustus true intention, but if we take into account that this was just to make Mike look like the true villain we can somewhat assume Augustus had something similar in mind to really show how bad Mike is. All around, this whole take on facing the situation is a complete mess and nobody is in the right.

you can be prepared for the concept of violence in general, but not what and when. like I was going into this expecting Mike to throw a punch and then he did… that. which we could see from Augustus’ face did take him by surprise. but it’s not like “I’ll get hit to make my enemy look bad” is beyond him

Also Jamessssss. Giggles and claps my hands. I wanna know what he’s got to say!!! It’s gotta be hard hearing this kind of thing about someone you consider a close friend, only for them to get physical with someone. I think regardless of how he would’ve reacted if Mike had just told him the truth himself, Mike’s actions these last few pages tell him enough, and he disapproves. I’m curious to see where their friendship goes!! Personally I hope James puts his foot down a bit, especially as someone who isn’t connected to the larger drama of Mike and Lucy (Or rather, wasn’t previously)

It’s interesting that Augustus seemed to expect Mike to keep pressing the attack. Maybe he has this idea from past experiences with Alejandro?

More likely from his family, which is very much implied if not outright stated to have been physically abusive due to substance abuse.

Mike: I’m so alone…

Finn: Hey Mike, you should sit with us during lunch.

Felix: Wanna come over to my house today?

Mike: They all hated me.

EXACTLY! lmaoo!!!

Gone to get popcorn is my guess

He came out here to run and he’s not gonna let these guys stop him

We love an unbothered king

Shi I mean who wouldn’t 🍿

The chapter that’s nothing but Mike crying in the shower is gonna go so hard

I mean like, as someone who likes Mike and wants to see him get better, I can’t really blame James if he decides to judge him for it. There’s more at play here than Just Mike getting mad at Augustus for prodding at him; Mike was using James to try and make himself feel better, and that’s not okay to do to someone. James also hasn’t said anything yet, but even so, it’s not like he knew Mike was bottling it up in the first place bc Mike doesn’t tell him about any of that.

True but just knowing these situations, and i feel like Mike, Augustus and Lucy can solve this better than just… “stay inside” “fuck you, I’m not going to stay inside” “fuck you for coming outside i’m going to make you as uncomfortable as you make Lucy” “fuck you for speaking for her, she can speak up herself, this isn’t James or David’s business”

honestly at this point i would take David’s foot in mouth over seeing them fighting

Really? You can’t see why someone wouldn’t want to be around a person who bottles up their emotions until they release it in a physically violent outburst, even against their own friends (like Paulo)? Framing “distancing yourself someone who is physically violent” as a BETRAYAL is a horrible message to send…

@ShiNo_Megami069 Well yeah, they COULD solve it better than how they are now, but none of them are in the proper mindsets and attitudes to do so. Mike’s refusal to acknowledge his behavior and change outside of calling himself a bad person makes it so he’s way too hotheaded to handle being Actually called out on his behavior. Augustus, in an attempt to help Lucy not feel as on edge, is being very stubborn about Mike’s presence, to the point that he’s ended up unintentionally dragging Lucy back into a situation with Mike. Lucy doesn’t even want to be a part of this, she’s said absolutely nothing about Mike needing to go back inside, and actually told Augustus it was fine previously, on top of her trying to get Augustus to lay off just a couple pages ago. All she wants is distance from Mike, which is what she’d been trying to stick to since coming back. In a perfect world they would all sit and calmly talk out their problems, but the reality of it is that they’re messy teenagers with various levels of coping, and having genuine, Hard conversations and keeping your cool is tough

Dunno. So much of this feels like a dream with no one interfering or trying to deescalate. I assume like Mike that is probably due to boil over soon, or something…

I am genuinely curious where this will ultimately go. All of these characters still have to be people after this, so what the heck will that look like?

Also, its funny that what really triggered Mike in all this was Augustus accusing him of trying to string James along. Not the past issue with Lucy. Mike’s guilt over Lucy kept him cowering against Augustus, but I guess calling him out to be playing with someone’s feelings just took him over the edge. Did the truth of it hurt or was he indignant that he could be accused of such a thing? Maybe both.

Seems the only people who know are Lucy’s family. She hasn’t spoken about it with anyone else, and only vaguely mentioned to Daisy that one time- “I owe him a lot more than just a place to live.”