Bittersweet Candy Bowl

I feel like it could be sandy is actually texts to him but he isn’t answering to them as he has been actively more distant to her ever since the eternal flame. I have a feeling it might be her making it official to break up, or actually trying to figure out what’s going on with him. Also I just hope Paulo doesn’t let this slip up and actually starts making others aware of how critical Mike is getting. He’s a ticking bomb atp

Now that you put it on that perspective, it does make more sense that’s how Mike portrays it to be. Then again dudes literally in shambles so keeping up with sandy is probably just mentally draining him more.

I’ve had the feeling their final break up will be during that Valentines visit, which will probably be the point of no return for Mike, especially now.

I think everyone is like David where they just quietly don’t like him and don’t want to be confrontational. I really think the only two people who would truly notice is Daisy and Paulo. I think the others really would only care to some degree if and when he attempts or succeeds at taking his own life. They will be the people who feign. “Wow I didn’t realize he was in such a bad place, he seemed so happy all the time.” I am also under the impression they see him spiraling but don’t care.

We can for sure add Sue to the list of those not wanting to be confrontational after what happened last chapter. And if Mike does make an attempt at taking his own life, no matter if he survives or not, I feel like a lot of skeletons are going to be exposed, either it is done by Paulo, Daisy, or Mike’s sister. And if Hailey ends up being the one who exposes everyone’s skeletons, August better have a paddle for the creek he is about to be in, because she will show him no mercy.

I need a refresher, who’s Hailey?

Mike’s sister.

Hey I see this sentiment a lot. Can you point to when he wasn’t really accountable for his actions? Or at least where he could have been held more accountable. I’m writing a breakdown of the story and I want to make sure I don’t miss anything

When he was somewhat honest about what he did at Rachel’s Party, after Lucy’s disappearance, everyone was mad, yes, but in the end they just gave him a slap on the wrist. Some even thought he was in the right due to Lucy’s previous abuse that she put upon him. Granted he only provided minor details to avoid everyone actually hating him for what he did. His only excuse was him wishing she’d tried to change sooner. Which he never gave her a chance to change. He was always accepting of her behavior until he wasn’t. The only reason she was at his house that night he said those horrible things was because they were assigned a school assignment together. Lucy tried to break the ice so it wasn’t so awkward, and he blew up on her. Augustus was good for her because he never accepted her bad behavior and would be straight up with her anytime she stepped over the line. Where as Mike never was. In fact a lot of the times it seemed as though he instigated it, acting like it was funny. His reasoning for putting up with it at the time, before Sandy, was because he seen her as a romatic interest, but it was more of a replacement for Sandy. And she knew it, which is why she always turned him down. They were both extremely toxic for eachother, but Mike has a bad habit of letting things bottle up, rather than be straightfoward with anyone, until he blows up on them, and then thinks all it takes to fix it is an apology, only to return back to bottling everything up again.

At the same time I think what Mike needs is his own Augustus. Someone who doesn’t sugar coat his bad behaviors, but is also still there for him regardless of what others think. Hopefully he can find that. I wish Paulo could be that, but he’s got too many ties with all the negativity of the past, and I doubt he would be willing to drop everyone else to be that for Mike. which, in the long run, is what it would take.

The amount of people who seem to believe that abuse is okay as long as the victim doesn’t speak up is very concerning.

Even ignoring that Mike has pushed back against Lucy before December

That he had to tell her once is already 3 times too many

@Justib Odell there really haven’t been a single time where he hasn’t been accountable for his actions.

Being accountable doesn’t matter when you are being gaslighted into being the bad guy though

I genuinely believe it’d be for the better if they broke up but it’d be tragic timing if it happened now. Their relationship isn’t healthy in the slightest and I think a lot of Mike’s earlier issues would start to clear up.

Even so, I don’t think this end result is right or good. It is pathetic and pitiable. In a kinder world this would be the part where he grows and stops being so mealy mouthed and abrasive after introspection. Find a new friend group and slowly connect with your old friends when the fire dies down, keeping distance, perhaps changing schools.

Honestly a fresh start would do him a world of good, but telling a teen that is like trying to convince someone the sky is red.

Wasn’t that what Mike was trying to do until Augustus decided to be a hypocritical jerk? In my opinion Augustus intentionally wanted to hurt Mike and make him feel alone out of some self absorbed anti-hero complex. All it accomplished is telling Mike that he never gets to move on and they will always remind him, because up until that point Mike kept to his word of not confronting or engaging with Lucy. He only snapped because Augustus and Lucy pushed him in a corner. Idk how anyone can look at that situation and not think Augustus and Lucy were kind of the villains in the situation. In the same sense I understand how their own hurt and pain that mike caused in the past would feel like justification in their eyes or validation, but they equally need to be accountable for their actions just as much as Mike does. I only hope that Lucy and Augustus will get some guff for how they acted in that moment. It wasn’t cool. It also annoyed me how Lucy had the audacity to tell Paulo to go check on him, and then manipulate him into silence from a promise she rejected.

I think so, honestly.

The situation isn’t one to one, and there have been a few times where I have wondered why they all hang out beyond The Drama of it all.

Lucy had a lot to deal with, but this was…sinister? I guess that is the word that springs to mind. She has had to deal with what seems like genuine ptsd after she almost passed.

It is kind of surreal. People seem happy to shit on Mike for being a shitty flake, but manipulation and generally being an unpleasant asshole seems to be good when Lucy does it…depending on who you speak to. She didn’t have the ability to speak out against Mike wanting to go outside, but did have the follow through to call Paulo out when he was about to check on his friend, which I still think is kind of hinky and controlling? Is Mike not allowed a requisite Augustus when he is about to die?

I grew up in the Deep South. Teenage life was messy and I was suicidally depressed. I can honestly say, a lot of people, adults included, were way more inclined to offer sympathy and good will to certain people than to others, often due to gender or classism. That shit goes both ways, and this has left a real bad taste in my mouth.

Anyway, I’d change schools if I were able and in his shoes. Also, take a step back from romantic relationships for a few years, sort stuff out.

People have a hard time villainizing someone who experienced severe trauma. They also seem to forget that Lucy wasn’t exactly a peach prior to her trauma either.

• She was physically violent towards Mike and others.

• She talks of how Mike lead her on, while also leading on Paulo constantly

• Mike pinned after her and she rejected him and only pinned after him after he started dating Sandy.

• Mike tried to tell her he didn’t share those feelings because he was with Sandy, and Lucy wouldn’t accept that and kept trying to push her feelings on Mike.

• She also forced a kiss on Augustus to feel wanted and loved, which is a bit of mirror image of how Mike kissed her after Sandy cheated on him.

• When Paulo, out of desperation, said he would forget Mike, so she would be with him she rejected the idea and told him she wouldn’t want that. Now she is holding that against him.

I could do a similar thing with everything with Mike or any of the characters because they all have done some hurtful and spiteful things in the past….but for some reason everyone seems to frame Lucy as this innocent saint who is sinless. The human condition is complex, and I think everyone at some point has been hurt and hurt others. I don’t hate or like Lucy any more than I do mike lol. I just get annoyed that everyone seems to gloss over a lot of things with her and give her a pass. Honestly all these characters should seek therapy lol. I am also curious where all the adults are in their lives, because none of the adults were there to help Lucy and they aren’t here to help Mike either.

This right here.

It honestly makes me wonder and think they twisted the truth a bit and only had one side told on purpose just for the sake for mike to go downhill..

The last chapter imo was so disgusting and the actions Lucy did in the last pages when she twisted and manipulated Paulos words against him

almost like Mike deserves help instead of whatever the hell that was

I’m fine with this, actually.

He gets what he deserves. He’ll learn from this, understand what “consequences of you actions” are, and will eventually reach a better place (after a bumpy ride probably).

Trust me, if Sandy’s perfect image didn’t crack in his mind, he wouldn’t have cared about the whole James thing and just kept being in his happy “Sandy space” with Paulo as his BF.

@WitchDoll Or he’ll try to kill himself

I don’t think morally, mentally, or emotionally that checks out… Mental health is a compilation of checks and balances and it seems to me Mike is paying his dues plus interest.

@justin ODell It’s good he’s paying his dues, it’s called consequences of your actions, the same actions he brushed aside so easily for so long and kept hurting people. And I don’t see the interest.

No need for interest, karma got him and that’s good enough.

@WitchDoll I find the complete lack of empathy or sympathy for this teenager troubling. This is overkill.

@witchdoll no no. This isnt karma. If you’re going to call this what it is, do so. It’s retribution. Her reaction to what he did made people not only upset and shocked. It hit home for many others.

But Mike (on paper) lashed out. She reacted to her world crumbling (like a teen would)

And again (like a teen) mike tried to save face even though

He felt guilty (which he did) even though ALL OF THIS is a miscommunication

nobody deserves this and acting like it is deserved is fucking disgusting. karma doesn’t fix people, revenge doesn’t fix people, addressing the god damn issues fixes people

Lucy didn’t deserve it when it happened to her, either

You all can keep being the better person, I’m saying it as it is. The reality of life.

Also, I never said I wanted him to get worse or try something. But I do believe he deserves this.

I know from experience the type of hurt Mike did.

My “Mike” also never took responsibility and never apologised. Played it off and used me on and off for comfort when needed while pretending to be innocent. It took me a long time to free myself from him, meanwhile, being emotionally abused.

I don’t wish that guy death, I know his family, his parents are sweet, and the guy himself is not mean, but yeah, despite saying to myself “I don’t want someone I loved to get hurt..” I still wish he had a girl that would give him a taste of his own medicine just so he would have known what he did.

We all want that, even in the smallest way, and saying otherwise would be lying to yourself.

So I’m ok with this. Mike got some taste of karma, and from here on, I wish for him to get better, because in his core he’s a good kid..

I’m sorry that happened but that was my point. Revenge is what you’re asking for because you didn’t get justice for yourself. My assaulter is living comfortably with 2 kids and the claimed husband she always she always wanted and even talked about how I wanted what I got.

Reality is: me hurting her wouldn’t do anything for me. Justice is blind, revenge is blinding. She did what she did when she did because she was hurt and talking to her now? She didn’t know what she was doing or that it would hurt me. (We were kids) I don’t want hat happened to me to anyone else of course, but I can now as a therapist help people through it.

I would like to double back and say your emotions are valid. Your trauma is valid. And you don’t have to, nor ever have to explain or defend your truth.

But take with you we all have trauma big and small. But we can either let our trauma change our hearts or our minds.

And I love too much to let my heart change

sorry, but you’re not saying it as it is. you’re couching it in terms of karma, of some sort of cosmic rebalancing. that isn’t real. and if it was people would be in constant fear of the slightest mistake coming back to get them

eventually you have to try and make the cycle of pain stop, because the pain inflicted will never actually balance things out. instead you just make more scarred people. and idk if being on the side of forgiveness and healing makes me the better person I sure as hell don’t feel like it. I just feel like someone who has a life to live and more important things to do than hope for the downfall of people that have wronged me

Those bags too.

I wonder if he was crying or even slept at all…

August when I fricken get you…

He’s probably had everything replaying in his mind constantly, his hunger, guilt, and anxiety constantly jolting him awake at night.

I understand the sentiment behind Augustus’s actions, but at the end of the day, he cornered Mike in front of James and forced him to reveal the ugly truths, even when Lucy told him to back off. It’s no wonder that Mike got physical, he had no way out of that situation.

That seems to be Agustus’ thing if you really think about it. Cornering someone in front of orthers with the intention of making them snap physically. He did the same thing with Abbey, all with the purpose of proving the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree when it comes to Abbey and his father, knowing full well that Abbey fears turning out like his father because of the trauma he caused the whole family.

Does also telling half stories or truths is part of his character too?

I have never been a fan of August since he entered the story, especially with the timing of it. Always have felt there is more to him than what he shows, and after we saw these last few chapters, it is clear he needs to be dragged down a few pegs. The ones I suspect to do so is Paulo and Hailey.

Lets fricken hope so.

I wouldn’t be suprise if Paulo threaten to reveal his dirty laundry as a way to tell him to “Back off” and stay in his own lane from now on

Yeah, Mike’s greatest enemy and his biggest flaw has always been himself. It is clear for a good long while that Mike is at war with himself, lashing out at others because a part of him, what use to be his loudest part, wanted to deny the truth to himself despite knowing he was in the wrong. I want to say this war of the mind for him likely truly started when he learned Lucy was in the hospital and that his actions pushed her that far. And now, with his walls crumbled and his denial unable to remain strong, Mike is accepting his fate. Viewing that he deserves the worst outcome. That he doesn’t deserve his friends, happiness, or even his hobbies as there is a chance James might want Lucy to join the track team, meaning Agustus will force Mike to quit. And Mike will accept all that is thrown at him till he is beyond fixing. And when the time comes when he will make an attempt on his life, he’ll likely find a place no one will suspect so he can’t be saved. Because right now to Mike, he believes he is unworthy of being saved and being redeemed.

Worse then getting to the point of actually go through ending your life? What?

Lucy is alive by pure luck:

-The fact that some snow probably softened her impact, even though she still got the side of her body rapture and bleed.

-and the fact that Augustus noticed her on the roof, is what saved her from bleeding to death.

We got that close to get a picture of her tombstone the next chapter.

“Damaged and all the good stuff”???