James

From Candypedia
James
GenderMale
Age15
Birthday1993
GradeSophomore as of Table for One
SpeciesCat
OccupationStudent
AffiliationTrack team
DebutEternal Flame, page 68
July 19, 2021 (2021-07-19)

James is a sophomore cat at Roseville High School who splits his time between the track team, a part-time job at Burger-Tron alongside Paulo, and whichever boy he is currently head over heels for. He introduced himself to Mike by cheerfully admitting he had spent four months watching him from a distance, and then talked him onto the team anyway. Within a few weeks he had kissed Mike, been turned down, and found a brand new crush in David before the same evening was over. He calls himself a stalker without a hint of embarrassment, and his teammates mostly just call him an idiot.

Personality

James’s pitch for track makes a graceful exit from Track Meet.

James runs on more energy than the rest of Roseville put together. He talks with his whole body, sparkles his way through a fast-food shift, bows to people for showing up on time, and tips his chair over when a conversation gets exciting. He climbs rocks, hikes, camps and surfs, and he also owns a French director’s complete filmography on DVD. As far as he’s concerned there is nothing odd about all of that living in the same person. He blurts things out, hears what he has said, and then simply carries on talking. A no rarely slows him down for longer than it takes to spot the next handsome boy jogging past.

He blunders out of sheer momentum rather than nerves. Asked what he likes, he shouts “ROCKS”, and when asked to clarify, “CLIMBING THEM”.[1] Veronica’s commentary on the mall trip says it’s a good thing he has so many activities to burn all that energy on.[2] On the film date he pitches his favourite director as somebody whose shots make you feel like you’re on drugs, then hastily adds that he wouldn’t know, but he wouldn’t judge Mike if he did.[3] Veronica’s note on that page calls him a character who bleeds anxiety without actually being anxious, and says plainly that James is very confident.[3] He has less composure once his hand is over Mike’s in the cinema. When Mike remarks on its warmth, James comes up with “That’s just my circulation.”[4] He also finishes dead last in the arcade race.[5]

He also has a remarkable talent for not noticing things. The gag chapter One-Track Mind exists purely to explain how he missed several of Mike’s public meltdowns: he was busy balancing milk cartons on his nose, home sick with the flu, or eating lunch by the track admiring Mike’s stride.[6][7] At the arcade he can’t see why Mike wants to avoid some girl using a machine. She doesn’t own the place, after all; he has no idea who Lucy is to Mike.[8] Mike’s girlfriend was not something he missed, though. He knew about her; Veronica’s commentary says he simply didn’t care.[9] Months later he greets Augustus with “Who are you again?”[10] Felix and Finn sum him up for Mike as an idiot who is easily distracted.[11] Funnily enough, he sometimes reads other people better when he isn’t the one involved. He spots that Daisy and Paulo have a little thing going before Mike does.[12] His attempt to console Sue about her play in Participation Trophy is less successful: he ends up suggesting she might have a crush on David.[13][14]

James treats Mike’s self-loathing like a problem that can be argued into submission.

When it comes to boys, James knows what he wants and moves fast, in both directions. Veronica has said his fickleness and his cut-throat streak were there from the start.[15] He falls for David within minutes of being turned down by Mike,[16] and cheerfully admits that he multitasks with crushes sometimes.[17] He tells Mike he doesn’t deserve a bad year.[18] He stays kind when Mike turns him down, refusing his offer to quit the team and offering to quit himself instead.[19] Veronica’s commentary sums him up as a boy who just wants to be nice to Mike during his sadboy hours.[20] Once he decides Mike is “messed up”, though, he doesn’t look back.[21] When Sue keeps demanding more tests after Paulo wins their ticket contest, James asks her why she’s being like this.[22]

He’s less certain than all that volume suggests. He imagines Mike wiping his hand off in disgust,[23] and admits he would feel like a loser going to the cinema alone.[24] He wonders aloud whether it was really him that Paulo and Daisy wanted,[25] and he looks genuinely stung when Felix calls him “exhausting”, at least until the theatrics kick in.[17]

He gossips without thinking and apologizes just as quickly. He lets slip to David that Paulo and Daisy are dating,[26] shrugs off the fallout as the Burger-Tron family spirit,[27] and refers to Amaya as “the mute girl”.[28] Once he realizes the group has been picking at a sore spot of Lucy’s, though, he stops and says they’re being jerks and he’s sorry.[29] The one thing he never apologizes for is recruiting. He talks Mike onto the team,[30] begs David to join,[31] and is soon asking Lucy about running when they first share a table.[32] When Mike stops turning up to practice, his first worry is that the team is going to kill him for it.[33]

Appearance

James brings a backpack and unreasonable confidence to False Start.

James is a beige cat with green eyes, thick eyebrows, long tufts of fur on his cheeks, and a fringe that hangs down over his eyes.[34][35] He wears whatever the setting calls for rather than any one signature outfit. At work it’s the Burger-Tron uniform,[36] on the track it’s the blue Hornets running uniform,[37] and in a flashback to his private-school days he is in a suit.[2] The same page shows him in memory panels wearing a climbing harness, carrying a hiking pole and hauling a surfboard, which is about as much of his wardrobe as anybody gets to see.[2] He carries a backpack on the walk to the park.[38]

Veronica has said that James and Lucas were designs she already had in mind, while the rest of the track team were built from looked-up breeds.[39] Expect a lot of blushing and sparkle around him too, though that’s mood rather than design. He lights up like a Christmas tree over his date with Mike, and swoons in a spray of roses when he first sees David.[36][16] He looks visibly crushed when Mike turns him down.[9]

Significant events

James starts working at Burger-Tron alongside Paulo in May,[40] then transfers from private school to Roseville High School in September.[41] His first main-comic appearance is a silent hallway cameo in Eternal Flame.[34] In Track Meet, he introduces himself to Mike and talks him onto the track team.[42][30]

During a Christmas shopping trip in Link Play, James invites Mike to the cinema.[43][24] He confirms their plans during his shift in Good Enough.[44]

Date Night gives James a kiss, a rejection, and an unexpected second crush.

The outing in Date Night ends with a kiss, Mike choosing Sandy, and an agreement to stay friends.[9][45] Later that evening James falls for David and recruits him to the team.[16][31] At midnight in the park in New Year’s Resolution, he grabs Paulo to demand why nobody told him about the Silvershore Islands trip, and is crushed to learn their ride has graduated.[46]

Through the winter he and David become regular running companions.[47][48] In Line in the Sand, James watches Mike attack Augustus during an argument about Lucy.[49] He leaves with David to join her lunch table.[50] He later races Lucy in False Start and wins.[51] By Tickets Please he is socializing with the group and helps host their trivia contest.[35][52]

Major relationships

Mike

James watches Mike’s story unravel, and the old admiration is already becoming doubt.

For a few weeks in December, Mike’s need for somebody to be kind to him looked an awful lot like the romance James had been hoping for. James had noticed him at the park while still at private school,[2] and later watched him run while eating lunch by the track.[7] When Mike accuses him of four months of stalking in Track Meet, he answers with evident pride: “Mmhmm, to stalk you for four months.”[53] Mike, at a very low point, takes the attention gratefully. He falls asleep after the mall trip picturing James holding a hand out to him,[54] and on the film date tells James he was feeling lower than he ever had until James came along and changed everything.[55]

James makes the first move, and he also sets the terms for what comes after. He kisses Mike in Date Night, and Mike enjoys it.[56] Mike still chooses Sandy, whereupon James admits he knew about her and had rather hoped to change Mike’s mind.[9] He refuses to let Mike quit the team over it and offers to quit himself.[19] Then he lays out where he stands. He’ll always be up for it if Mike changes his mind, but he isn’t going to sit around waiting, and he wants to stay friends.[45] Afterward, Mike starts chasing James’s attention. Mike counts having to reject James among his losses at New Year’s.[57] Later in the school year, he is the one begging James and David to stay inside with him at lunch, which prompts Felix to tell him that James definitely likes him.[11]

By the end of Line in the Sand, James has stopped giving Mike the benefit of the doubt. He initially asks whether Augustus is bothering Mike.[58] He asks whether Augustus’s account of Mike’s treatment of Lucy is true.[59] After Mike throws Augustus to the ground, James asks again, then calls him “messed up”.[49][21] When Mike pleads with him not to leave too, James answers “Guess I dodged a bullet, huh?” and adds that he feels sorry for Mike’s girlfriend.[60][61] Veronica’s commentary on that page remarks that at least somebody cares about Sandy’s feelings.[61] Afterwards he points out to Paulo that Finn and the others still like Mike; whether Mike goes back to them is his own problem now.[62] He does fret that the team will kill him once Mike starts skipping practice.[33]

David

David is the bestest boy, and James is happy to say so.

James fell for David at a full sprint and has been trying to keep pace ever since. Minutes after being turned down by Mike in Date Night, he sees David tear past in the race, swoons, and demands to know who he is.[16] He begs David to join the track team on the spot.[31] David asks whether joining the team means falling in love with Mike. James admits his own crush was a lot of the reason for recruiting Mike, but insists the others don’t have to share it. David pats his head and says that if this turns out like one of his sports animes, he’d pick James first.[63] After that they are more or less inseparable, with recess runs in Seeing Stars and First-Degree Burn[47][48] and stretching sessions on the track.[64] David has also seen pretty much every film by James’s beloved Pierre Melennec and agrees to a movie marathon with him.[65]

James takes David’s non-answers as all the green light he needs. He follows David’s lead without hesitation, declaring “I’ll go wherever you go, David!” when David proposes moving tables,[66] and marvelling at an idea he had never thought of before.[67] Veronica’s commentary describes those lunch outings as James aiming for kisses.[67] He praises David to Sue at such length that she loses her temper, and lights up entirely at the suggestion David might be trying to impress him.[13] David himself deflects with a cheerful line about being the bestest boy,[68] and James’s one personal complaint about the whole Mike business is that it has cost him alone time with David.[61]

Paulo

James’s cheerful greetings are less charming when Paulo cannot keep his crush contained.

Paulo carried a crush on his cheerful coworker from spring into winter without James ever picking up on it. The two have worked shifts together at Burger-Tron since May,[40] and Paulo’s memories of work are full of James’s cheerful, sing-song greetings.[69] Watching from the bleachers in Track Meet, Paulo is left admitting to Daisy that James is pretty good-looking.[70] The sting is that James never told him he had transferred to Roseville, and never once suggested Paulo join track. Paulo chalks it up to Mike being forever the golden boy.[71] He eventually confesses to Daisy that he has liked James since May.[40] James, meanwhile, tells Daisy that her constant visits to the restaurant are exactly why he was surprised to find out Paulo liked him.[72]

Once James finds out about the crush, he’s open to the idea. He asks Paulo outright whether he really had a crush on him and offers a zombie-movie date if Paulo wins the race in Date Night,[73] and in Second String complains that Paulo gave up on him too quickly.[17] By then Daisy has told James at school that she and Paulo are together.[72] He also credits Daisy’s visits with making Paulo work harder and possibly earning his promotion.[74] He blurts the news to David without a second thought.[26] By Tickets Please, though, his hints about taking David’s place at the preview screening get a flat “Absolutely not” from Paulo. Veronica’s commentary calls the crush long-dead.[75]

Minor relationships

Felix

Felix’s corrective smack comes after James has said the quiet part aloud.

Nothing is ever said outright, but Felix and James read like exes who ended up on the same team. James won’t ask Felix to a film “for obvious reasons”,[76] and Felix suggests Paulo might have noticed how exhausting James can be, which Veronica’s commentary says he may well know from experience.[17] James responds by collapsing on him and wailing “What makes you think I’ll EVER get over you!!”, a performance the commentary says the whole team is used to.[77] Felix later tells Mike he was too good for James too.[78] Day to day, he is the one who smacks James for being tactless and sticks up for Mike when James gets snippy.[79][78] Veronica has said she has a backstory for the two of them that she intends to get to in the comic.[76]

Lucy

Lucy admits she is good, and James immediately finds a new reason to admire her in Line in the Sand.

James and Lucy settle into getting along surprisingly quickly after a prickly first meeting. He first meets her as an anonymous arcade whiz in Link Play, gushes over her stats, gets snapped at and scowls,[80][81] yet still recruits her for the race.[82] He recognizes “the arcade girl” during the confrontation in Line in the Sand,[83] and once they share a table the two arrange a race.[84] On the walk to the race in False Start, he apologizes for going on about Mike.[29] Then he wins, and gets to throw “Not all THAT fast, huh?” back at her.[51] Lucy’s verdict to her mom afterwards is that the new kid is cool.[85]

Track team

Finn, Lucas, Darwin and Max are long past being surprised by James. They groan when he over-shares at Mike’s table,[53] count the lunch periods he has spent balancing milk cartons,[6] and have to remind him he’s still on the final lap.[5] All the same, Finn can’t believe he actually convinced Mike to join,[37] and Darwin is a willing ear for his crush updates.[25][74] Finn’s needling runs from calling him and Mike lovebirds to “stinky ol’ James”.[86][78]

Quotes

Mmhmm, to stalk you for four months. James, cheerfully confirming Mike’s accusation in Track Meet

He frames the CRAZIEST shots! Makes you feel like you’re on DRUGS! James, selling Mike on his favourite director, moments before backpedalling, in Date Night

I mean, I’ll always be down if you change your mind or if things go south.. .. but I’m not gonna sit around waiting for that. I just want you in my life, okay? I want to stay friends. James, laying out his terms after the kiss in Date Night

Who is HE? James, spotting David sprint past, minutes after being turned down, in Date Night

That’s the Burger-Tron family spirit! James, after letting slip that Paulo and Daisy are dating in Second String

Guess I dodged a bullet, huh? James, answering Mike’s plea not to leave him in Line in the Sand

Trivia

  • James first appeared in the BCI comic Everyday Life in 2019, two years before his silent hallway cameo in Eternal Flame.[87][34] Veronica has said he was the only member of the track team who existed at the time.[88]
  • He was originally conceived as Paulo’s crush. Veronica says the crush dynamic transferred to Mike instead, and that the track team was the last piece of his development to fall into place.[89]
  • Putting him in private school was a way to keep Paulo’s crush hidden. Veronica later felt he was lost potential, so she had him switch schools and gave him a months-long sleeper-agent obsession with Mike.[88]
  • Veronica’s commentary on Track Meet says she wished she could have drawn James into earlier chapters, but really didn’t want to draw Burger-Tron backgrounds.[41]
  • Two BCI what-if comics branch off Date Night around him. In Another Direction Mike chooses James and the two head off to play Super NES, and in Another Date Paulo wins the race and the pair become a couple a step at a time.[90][91]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 4
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 5
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 2
  4. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 4
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 22
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 One-Track Mind, page 1
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 One-Track Mind, page 2
  8. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 17
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 9
  10. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 10
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Chapter 125: First-Degree Burn, page 17
  12. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 7
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Chapter 126: Participation Trophy, page 18
  14. ↑ Chapter 126: Participation Trophy, page 20
  15. ↑ “Ask response on James’s fickleness”. 2026-05-21.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 18
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Chapter 124: Second String, page 6
  18. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 7
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 10
  20. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 13
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 28
  22. ↑ Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 22
  23. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 5
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Chapter 116: Link Play, page 6
  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 124: Second String, page 5
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Chapter 124: Second String, page 8
  27. ↑ Chapter 124: Second String, page 12
  28. ↑ Chapter 126: Participation Trophy, page 15
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 False Start, page 5
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 11
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 19
  32. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 39
  33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 False Start, page 4
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 34.2 Chapter 110: Eternal Flame, page 68
  35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 17
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 1
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 12
  38. ↑ False Start, page 1
  39. ↑ “Ask response on the track team’s designs”. 2026-06-04.
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 7
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 9
  42. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 7
  43. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 1
  44. ↑ Chapter 117: Good Enough, page 3
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 11
  46. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 39
  47. ↑ 47.0 47.1 Chapter 120: Seeing Stars, page 14
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Chapter 125: First-Degree Burn, page 12
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 21
  50. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 36
  51. ↑ 51.0 51.1 False Start, page 6
  52. ↑ Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 20
  53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 10
  54. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 32
  55. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 8
  56. ↑ “Ask response on Mike’s reaction to James’s kiss”. 2026-06-04.
  57. ↑ Chapter 119: New Year’s Resolution, page 32
  58. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 14
  59. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 18
  60. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 34
  61. ↑ 61.0 61.1 61.2 Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 35
  62. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 41
  63. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 21
  64. ↑ Chapter 124: Second String, page 15
  65. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 8
  66. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 32
  67. ↑ 67.0 67.1 Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 33
  68. ↑ Chapter 125: First-Degree Burn, page 14
  69. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 16
  70. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 20
  71. ↑ Chapter 115: Track Meet, page 14
  72. ↑ 72.0 72.1 Chapter 123: Third Wheel, page 6
  73. ↑ Chapter 118: Date Night, page 16
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 Chapter 124: Second String, page 14
  75. ↑ Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 26
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 Chapter 118: Date Night, page 3
  77. ↑ Chapter 124: Second String, page 7
  78. ↑ 78.0 78.1 78.2 Chapter 125: First-Degree Burn, page 16
  79. ↑ Chapter 124: Second String, page 3
  80. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 12
  81. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 13
  82. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 19
  83. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 16
  84. ↑ Chapter 127: Line in the Sand, page 40
  85. ↑ Chapter 129: Tickets Please, page 32
  86. ↑ Chapter 116: Link Play, page 8
  87. ↑ Everyday Life, page 8 🔒 (members only)
  88. ↑ 88.0 88.1 “Ask response on James and the track team’s origins”. 2025-10-31.
  89. ↑ “Ask response on James’s origins as Paulo’s crush”. 2026-05-28.
  90. ↑ Another Direction, page 11 🔒 (members only)
  91. ↑ Another Date, page 13 🔒 (members only)
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