Bittersweet Candy Bowl

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outside of the whole stopping her from using sex as a coping mechanism and helping her realize people can and do care for her without it being contingent upon her looks or receiving something physical in return, sure

yeah I think managing to cut through the insecurities that were making her believe that nobody ever loved her and her only recourse was self-isolation, and allowing herself to give the friends who accidentally wronged her a chance again is more important to her healing, yes

also we haven’t seen an instance where Lucy sunk so low that she’d do that again so idk we can’t definitively say that’s fixed

I can’t even complain because Mike had SO many outs. He could have hung out with his new running friends. He could have hung out with his old friends. He could have just gone back inside when Augustus reminded him of his word, and then negotiated on it later. He could have explained any of this stuff to James in good faith ahead of time, or later. He had many opportunities to not lose everything.

He had so many chances to get himself out of this hole but really let all of his insecurities get the better of him, it’s so tragic

Yeah, you guys are right. Though let’s not forget Lucy had those same chances. Yet instead just took Mike’s words at face value and jumped off a roof. We can’t expect more from him when no one else has lived up to these expectations yet.

I feel really bad overall for Mike here

Like as screwed up as he is, hes just a dumb kid with making really bad decisions lately

I do want him to change and atone and get a redemption

But I think the biggest issue overall that’s preventing him is, one, not only he can’t confront his own flaws

But also still hanging on to Sandy

If he really is sorry, if he really want to make amends and fix things

He’s gotta seriously let Sandy go, she’s holding him back and dragging him deeper in his own hole.

Letting Sandy go is going to be a lot harder. Also, it’s not going to fix anything with his friends. I agree it needs to happen, but it also needs to be for himself and no one else. Yet the reason he stayed with her is because of misplaced guilt. As a people pleaser, Mike is blaming himself for his girlfriend’s actions. Believing he must’ve done something wrong, so it’s his responsibility to fix it. Even though it never was.

He blames himself for Sandy being unfaithful and as a result guilt tripped himself into staying with her. If he’s ever going to start making honest changes. I think Mike will need to see a therapist that can help him realize he doesn’t always have to meet people’s expectations to be worthy of love. While sacrificing his own happiness in order to feel valued.

Because he’s not staying with Sandy out of love. Mike has been emotionally done with his girlfriend since the moment he found out she cheated on him. Which is why he’s not present in their relationship now. Because it’s no longer about love, it’s about misplaced guilt that turned into a feeling of obligation.

Similar to a person who grew up in an abusive household, yet still can’t cut their family off even after reaching adulthood. Not because they’re not aware their family mistreats them, but because they feel obligated to stay no matter how they’re being treated.

The night Mike made his decision to stay with Sandy. He truly wanted to be with Lucy going forward. Yet in the end he felt obligated to stay with Sandy. Not out of love, but because he’s taking the blame upon himself for her mistake and trying to fix something he didn’t even break.

P.S. speaking of Sandy cheating on Mike. She needs to see a therapist too. Because she may have cheated, but that hairdresser was a full grown man grooming her. Something I don’t even think Sandy herself realizes, as a teen model whose being treated like an adult by actual adults around her in the modeling industry.

I mean, look at how easy it was for a grown man working as her hairdresser to get access to her outside of work. Sandy said she “cheated” on Mike with him. Which begs the question of what was happening behind closed doors between Sandy and this grown man when no other adults were around. Not even Sandy’s Mother, seemed to know what was going on at the time. Because she was also too busy being her Daughter’s Manager, instead of her Mother.

It’s outright disgusting that’s happening to her and she doesn’t realize it

I don’t know how different the law is over where she is now, but she needs to talk to someone and fast before it’s too late.

Yeah, Francis is about 19-20, so Sandy is right about him being close to her in age. Yet she’s still a minor at the end of the day. And it sounds like he was able to take advantage of that loneliness she felt with no one her age being around. Which makes it sadder, since that also means she had no adults around to look out for her.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Abby xD

The rest of the track team actually seems a lot more open to hearing Mike out. They’ll definitely have questions, but unlike James, I bet they’d actually want to get both sides. I mean hell, they all saw him slam Paulo’s face into a cafeteria table, and they still want to hang out with him outside club activities. James’ sense of morality seems a lot more black and white compared to the rest of the team.

I hope they’ll at least hear him out. Especially, if James goes and oversells it to everyone else…

Even if they do, you’d have to hope the dynamic of the team isn’t muddied because of his weird relationship with David and James. Hence why if it were me, I’d look for friends outside of them.

The uproar that would cause would be insane

Also David being very smart and practical seems very “dream-like” too lol

Lucy complimenting David also seems out of character, not gonna lie lmao. Next page is gonna be David flying off with James in his arms by flapping his ears.

Ah, you know, I hadn’t even considered that. This would be interesting 🤔

I wish I hadn’t read this cause I’m gonna be sweating until I know for sure

putting aside dream theory for a second, there’s been a couple of times where Lucy’s been trying to be nice to someone but they take it as some kind of backhanded attempt to get one over on them (Amaya in It’s All in the Mind, Daisy in Rain Check). so I think it’s entirely plausible that Lucy has been trying to be nicer to people, and David is the kind of person who wouldn’t think there’s some kind of ulterior motive behind it

I think James has made it clear his fickle heart is done with Mike. “This girl” not “that girl” speaks to whose side he’s on now. Not to mention the “you’re messed up” from before.

If Mike tries to follow James, Augustus, David, Lucy, and James himself AT MINIMUM are going to be chasing him off. He’s done.

That’s crraaaaazy pessimistic. David has already shown he’s pretty resistant to drama in general? I don’t think he’s going to “Chase Mike Off” or anything, and James will just go with whatever David says. I think if Mike wanted to chill with them, then they’d be cool with it, in the same way that Mike was permitted to continue sitting at the table even after he assaulted Paulo (David’s bff for life, who he’d definitely stand up for if he was going to *at all*). Augustus maybe would try to say something, but I feel like Rachel and them would stop him from stuff like this? They don’t seem to like the drama either.

I’m always eager to be wrong in situations like this

Agreed. And actually spending time with the people she has been having nightmares of and seeing that they do actually love her and support her will probably do wonders for her mental state, way more than distancing herself from Mike ever did.

Eh. They might be more open minded in regards to listening to him.

I mean, they did see Mike assault Paulo with zero context and still wanted him on the team. I think they’ll want to hang anyway, haha. They don’t seem like they care too much about what Mike has done to other people.

Yeah, I’ve feared it for a while now. Since these kids just don’t talk to anyone who is qualified to help them through these things before making drastic decisions.

Unless this is a dream, like Steven suggested

“I don’t understand! He was the good, popular kid who got good grades and was on the track team! He was the good, golden boy who had a girlfriend and everything! Nobody saw this coming!”

I think he was quietly resentful for a long time. Remember the conversation where he said she didn’t care about him?

Also, nothing about Augustus looming over him and pressuring him to respond was him being nice

Maybe if he was held more accountable earlier, real healing could have begun sooner. Instead, we’re here.

And correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t he distancing himself from her but she kept latching on? December didn’t come out of nowhere.

Seconding Latrell’s 2nd point here, Mike’s body language during the hallway convo was clearly distress. There may not have been any force or nasty words, but it was clearly more than just “asking nicely.”

You seem to forget that Mike said he wouldn’t pursue or talk to Sue and he has been respectful in that sense. What Augustus did in this whole situation wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart and it wasn’t really completely for Lucy either. He wanted to hurt mike and make him feel alone and he got exactly what he wanted. He forced an emotional outburst and Lucy got to share her side, while not giving Mike an opportunity to respond. This whole situation is pretty crappy. I am not excusing Mike for his actions, but I also think no one in this situation is any better.

I know I’ve been saying this for a long time, but December was a product of too many emotions left unchecked. Especially, since when you get to the nitty gritty of it. Lucy and Mike had the exact same fear, but it showed itself in different ways.

Lucy clung to Mike despite having other friends, because she didn’t want to be abandoned. Due to their childhood with Sandy she felt easily replaceable and thus began to act on those emotions.

Whereas Mike began to see Lucy as a parasite who would replace him at the drop of a hat. Which intensified after he saw how quickly Lucy latched onto Paulo when they thought Mike had drowned.

These instances kept building up on both of their ends. Until Mike projected his own feelings onto Lucy. Claiming everyone would abandon her. When in reality his resentment grew around the feeling that he was easily replaceable to her.

These two have abandonment issues that should’ve been addressed at a young age. Which is why Lucy clung to Mike while never actually telling him her feelings as they grew up. Because after how things went down with Sandy as children. She felt like Mike could abandon her at any moment for someone else. Which added to her deep fears and insecurities. That only got worse when Sandy did come back into the picture.

Meanwhile, Mike grew into a people pleasure looking to be acknowledged by those around him. Whether as a golden child by adults, academically or athletically appealing to peers, and even romantically pursable by others.

Mike’s need to please others has always been there. Yet now we’re seeing how bad it actually is after him and Lucy’s friendship crashed and burned. Since just like Lucy was co-dependent on Mike. He was co-dependent on her as well. So once she was gone, he became desperate to fill the void and began to spiral.

Thus we now have a teen prone to physical violence due to feeling a lack of control in his own life, which he doesn’t know how to manage. This is why Mike now clings to people who satisfies the people pleaser within him. Because he feels like certain people won’t abandon him if he meets expectations.

Hence why he felt threatened after James began migrating towards David. Because as a people pleaser, the need to please others can become an obsession. Which is why Mike was fixated on meeting James expectations as a romantic interest. Despite not having any feelings for him.

Yet now that James romantic interest has shifted to David who is the better athlete. The feeling of abandonment came back in full swing. Which is why instead of hanging out with his other friends inside. Mike tunel visioned and solely focused on doing whatever’s necessary to please James.

This is why I’ll continue to say, Mike and Lucy are two sides of the same coin. They may have experienced different events that led up to them doing the things they did. Yet at the end of the day, the fear of being abandoned was at the center of it all for both of them.

Thank you, I’ve never seen anybody else acknowledge that Mike’s comments towards Lucy about everyone leaving the table with him were not said in earnest; they were a product of his own insecurities that his friends preferred Lucy. He said as much at Rachel’s party but everybody forgets that. Looks like he’s been proven right

Even the track team said he was fickle. It’s not too surprising.

Yeah, he even did something similar with Paulo before. Though this is also on Mike for not listening when he was warned about James

The track team weren’t just talking shit, it seems like their less than savoury remarks about James (particularly Felix’s) held some weight after all. Mike should have listened to them but his fragile ego of wanting to be validated got the better of him.

Completely agree. I’m hoping this is a dream sequence for real because if not, James might suddenly be my least favorite character.

He just saw Mike react to accusations he didn’t deny by throwing someone to the ground and screaming. Does he own Mike any loyalty??

He owes Mike the basic respect of hearing his side of the story, and Lucy just decked mike in the stomach yet that’s not an issue at all?

@Alister I understand this is purely a matter of opinion, but, personally, I would at least hear my friend out after things cool down after he got harassed by people I’ve never seen before to the point he lost his shit. Especially if I’ve never seen a hint of this behavior before. Not defending Mike at all. Just seems like James is pretty quick to toss people aside without much thought.

Mike does deserve a chance, but whenever given an opportunity to talk in this fight he fumbled constantly. gotta give things a bit of space, both for others to consider hearing him out and for him to get his thoughts together because what the hell were some of the things he said during that

IDK, he already saw Mike hurt Paulo but had kind of handwaved it. Also he hasn’t known Mike for very long at all! Now Mike reacted to Augustus in pretty much the worst way possible.

Think from James’s perspective about exactly what was said right before Mike attacked Augustus:

Aug implied that Mike was being possessive of JAMES. And James actually seemed to understand on some level (“…what is he talking about?” with a shadowed face). Then Augustus calls James his ‘boyfriend’ - making it EVEN CLEARER that he’s implying JAMES is Mike’s new possessive target (not to mention how Mike was already acting weird about James/David about the magazine at the beginning).

Right as James started to put two and two together, Mike made it so much worse (and more alarming) by attacking Augustus - NOT for talking about what he did to Lucy, but very obviously so JAMES couldn’t be warned about his behavior!

So I can completely understand why the guy wants to distance himself from Mike now, given that he’s realized HE is also a target for Mike’s jealousy AND Mike is willing to assault people trying to warn him about that jealousy.

I do agree with your sentiment, but the “preference” lines are quite satisfying to me after he told Lucy that everyone would leave her for him. He still hasn’t apologized for it either. And he might’ve hung onto that thought if he didn’t hear this for himself. This is definitely very harsh, and it will def hurt a lot, but it does open up for much needed space for growth, humility and a thorough reevaluation of what matters the most to him. And it’s not like he doesn’t know what to work on, and there are still a bunch of people who he can choose to hang out with. I’m excited to see where this will go

Has David ever actually referred to Mike as a friend or are they/were they only part of the same circle?

oh dear God how sad would that be after literally growing up together

Yeah, in high school terms, this is the death of one social circle and the forming of another. Even if the pain is strong and the need to apologize debilitating. Even if he were to mature, there is just too much drama and anger to pull up.

Yeah. At this point he just need to leave it and really self reflect.

Then one day, however long it may take, he can come back and really atone and apologize.

Even if it means it will be years by then

God thank You for saying this, when I saw that scenario of James and Mike about the whole magazine thing. I felt disturbed and shudder a bit cause it felt wrong on how Mike is just being possessive of James, I internally thought to myself that Mike should leave James alone. That it just felt wrong

Thank you!!!! I’ve definitely been seeing a lot of hate for James having a very realistic response to information like this being suddenly presented to him. I’ve seen folks say that James “didn’t hear Mike’s side of things” but like. He Asked, Multiple times, trying to get him to explain. It is not James’ fault that Mike decided to stay quiet or get angry instead of using the Three (maybe technically Four) opportunities James gave him to respond. I think a lot of people forget that James seemed very willing to stand up for Mike when he first realized Augustus was bothering him, too. Mike did not even give him the decency of a Yes or No to any of his questions.