| abstract
| - "The Last Summer of Youth" is the final major Penny and Aggie story arc and, at four chapters and a running time of nine months, the second-longest arc in the series. During its course, the romantic undercurrent in the title characters' relationship, hinted at throughout much of the comic, finally comes to the surface, as Penny and Aggie explore being more than friends. The relationships, romantic and otherwise, of several supporting characters also undergo challenges and changes. "May," following a prologue in which Aggie's father Nick, a math teacher, lectures on the Möbius strip, opens during exams review week towards the end of the main cast's junior year. Penny, Aggie and their friends and acquaintances are building an art installment, on the lawn in the back of the campus, consisting entirely of full-length mirrors. As Penny and Aggie trade barbs about each other's hair colour, Michelle catches sight of herself in the mirror and anxiously compares her figure to Penny's. To make herself feel better, she snarks that Penny may as well dye her hair Aggie's colour because, with her unusual "Y"-patterned top (last seen at the end of The New Reality) that resembles Aggie's signature shirt, she's already dressing as her "fangirl." Penny blushes at this, but recovers herself and, in the face of Michelle's continuing criticism of the blouse, explains it away as showing empathy for Aggie's lack of fashion sense, just as she coordinated her outfits to match Michelle's during the early phase of her recovery. As the three join the other groups working on the installment, Duane explains its purpose in an e-mail to the currently-imprisoned Charlotte. The project, Second Looks, is Katy-Ann's brainchild, and meant symbolically to encourage students to look more closely at themselves and each other. The reality, however, is that three current and former couples are approaching crisis points in their relationships. A near-mishap with the mirror Stan and Brandi are carrying leads to an argument, culminating in Brandi walking off in exasperation. Jack, at Stan's request, attempts to smooth things over with Brandi, but she maintains that their attempt to go back to being friends, in the wake of their split, isn't working. This leads in turn to a discussion of Jack's relationship with Katy-Ann. Despite all of Katy-Ann's assurances, Jack remains convinced he's a bad influence on her and is "dragging her down." Meanwhile, Sara reflects on her continuing reluctance to tell Daphne about her kissing Lucy. Furthermore, when she sees Daphne looking annoyed at Penny's mock-aristocratic invitation to her post-exam party, Sara simultaneously hopes that she doesn't "make a scene" and that she does, presumably so that Sara will have an excuse to dump her. The story jumps ahead to Penny's party, at which Lisa, in conversation with Aggie, expresses sadness that Stan isn't welcome there after what he did to Brandi, despite his having worked on Second Looks and despite, in her opinion, his having done nothing unforgivable. Aggie, however, is unconcerned, given that he's throwing his own get-together for his student election supporters. Meanwhile, Penny's father Rob prevents an alcohol-fuelled potential date rape from happening and bans the culprit, Bob, from his home. Penny gathers her closest friends and acquaintances for a game of Switch, the object of which is to pretend one's sexual orientation has switched and to say which person, any person, would then be one's crush. Sara names Archie Andrews because--inwardly picturing Lucy as she talks--she sees him as someone who's simple, uncomplicated, completely honest and (said with Daphne's onetime belief in the rape slander in mind) unlikely to "turn on you." During her turn, Sara also reflects inwardly on her still keeping in touch with Lucy twice a week, and on not yet having told Daphne. Michelle names Britney Spears because, she says with due respect to Sara, she personally finds girl-girl relations "gross," so her match may as well be someone she could pretend is a "trashy, out-of-shape guy." Lisa, reluctant as always to commit to one gender preference, names Humphrey Bogart as her guy-crush and, mischievously, Michelle as her preferred girl. When Michelle fails to realize Lisa's needling her, Lisa says the hopelessness of her crush is what makes it romantic. Fred and Daphne go next, play-kissing each other on the lips to show they'd be each other's crush. Daphne explains that Fred's always been there for her, helping her discover herself, come to terms with her mother's divorce and remarriage, and become a better person. Sara glares at Daphne for kissing him, but backs off from starting a break-up fight when Daphne asks her point-blank if she's jealous and she denies it. Aggie names Republican columnist and blogger Meghan McCain, given her integrity and willingness to disagree with her father (Senator John McCain) on issues, and also because of "the boobs." Penny, noticing that Aggie, consciously or not, has just described someone much like her, blushes in appreciation and says she too would go for a woman who'd be unafraid to argue with someone she loves, someone who'd challenge her, who had a different background and values from her. As everyone, especially Sara, realizes whom Penny's talking about and pays rapt attention, Penny falters and says that someone will come to her later. Aggie, finally clueing in and realizing for the first time her own attraction to her, returns Penny's longing gaze. Then Lisa spoils the moment by making the Meghan/Penny connection explicit and urging Aggie to kiss her. Sara, followed in rapid succession by Katy-Ann and Brandi, helps the titular characters save face by claiming also to be in love with Aggie, and the game dissolves into levity. After the party, Aggie stays behind to help Penny clean up, and they discuss Bob's ban from future get-togethers. Responding to a mocking suggestion from her friend, Aggie asks for his phone number so she can try and reach out to the otherwise apparently friendless Bob. As they step outside to put out the soda cans, their discussion turns back to the Switch game, which Penny justifies by saying it's fun to pretend sometimes, and Aggie draws the analogy to their acting in Macbeth. Nervous, Penny asks Aggie if she'd like to keep on playing (see page quote). When Aggie assumes (or pretends to) that Penny's talking about playing at her being Meghan, Penny, to Aggie's initial surprise, kisses her. As Aggie kisses back and they say goodnight, with Penny's suggestion to her "pretend girlfriend" that they do this again, there is juxtaposed a lecture by Nick on the physics of soap bubbles, serving as an analogy for the state of things between the two girls right now (see below).
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