Issue 65: New Love

New Love is the sixty-fifth issue of the Winx Club Comic Series.

Synopsis
The Winx and Specialists try to enjoy their weekend as usual, but Stella's stress begins to build up as her mother's problems quickly pile up on top of her own fears and worries; namely not being able to see Brandon due to the war on Eraklyon. This causes Stella and Brandon to get into a fight once she finally has the chance to talk with him, so Stella decides to search for a new boyfriend after the two break up.

Plot
The Winx are hanging out at the White Horse Café like they do every weekend, except Stella has been busy talking on her phone for almost an hour now. Tecna wonders why Stella has been on the phone for so long until Bloom explains that Stella's family problems have been being poured out on her recently. Stella finishes her call and Bloom comes over to check on her, asking if she is okay. Stella explains to Bloom that her mother still cannot accept being separated from her and her father, and that this is causing her mother's problems to become her own. She then wishes that Brandon were here with her, as she desperately needs to see him, but Bloom tries to point out that Brandon had to return to Eraklyon with Sky now that he is becoming the realm's new king. Stella does not care as she believes that she needs to see Brandon at that moment, but Bloom tries to tell her to have patience, because no one else can handle the situation. Stella claims that she has no patience because she wants to see Brandon, but she is interrupted by Tecna, who notifies the girls of the boys arrival. She, Musa and Flora rush out on the balcony to greet the boys as they park their hoverbikes just outside the café. Stella and Bloom notice that neither Brandon nor Sky have shown up, which easily disheartens Stella, who claims that another weekend of theirs has just been ruined. Bloom tries to calm her down by insisting that there is always the next weekend.

Timmy, Riven and Helia enter the café, where they are greeted by their respective girlfriends. Stella watches as Flora and Helia embrace each other and insists that Bloom let her help around the café today, since she now has nothing to do. Stella ends up helping Bloom around the café for the whole day and openly expresses how exhausted she is once all the customers are gone. Bloom claims that she is used to it by now and guesses that Stella is not cut out for working as a waitress. She helps Stella up as she urges for them to return to Alfea and Stella is relieved about being too distracted while working to think about Brandon.

However, later that night back at their dorm, Stella ends up yelling at Brandon over the phone. Brandon claims that he could not tell Stella about his leave in time because it was at the last minute. It turns out that Sky had to return to Eraklyon for his inauguration and, as his squire, Brandon had to come with. Stella insists that this always leaves her all alone but Brandon tries to calm her down by claiming that it will just be for a little while. Since Sky's father is busy elsewhere, Sky has to act for him in his stead in various ceremonies. Stella demands to know why Brandon had to go and Brandon claims that it is because he is Sky's bodyguard. He insists that this is a big honor for him but Stella takes that claim the wrong way and starts to believe that Brandon may prefer staying by Sky's side than hers. Brandon tries to tell Stella to stop behaving like a child but Stella insists that, as his girlfriend, she has every right to be the one person he puts above everyone else. Brandon asks if they can talk tomorrow since tonight is no longer a good time and Stella tells him to do whatever he wants before hanging up. She then spends the whole night worrying over what she had said. The following morning, the girls are stuck taking a written exam, but Stella has been spending a majority of the class sending messages to Brandon on her phone. Bloom tries to get her to stop before she gets caught but Stella turns around and brags to Bloom that she has already sent over 200 messages to him. She claims that this will be payback for him brushing her off and Bloom asks if she has gone mad. Bloom then urges for Stella to get organized and finish her test instead of making things worse but Stella insists that she is too mad to even do so.

After the test, Bloom complains to Tecna about what a disaster the test was. Tecna agrees, claiming that formulogics is just too hard of a class, until Bloom sees that Stella is still on her phone. She claims that she is exaggerating but Stella is now fuming since Brandon turned his phone off. Bloom takes Brandon's side and tells Stella that nothing good will come from her driving him crazy like she has been doing all day. She then tries to suggest that Stella be more reasonable as Brandon may be dealing with his own problems but Stella cuts her off, insisting that she has her own problems as well. She becomes frustrated to the point of tears as she goes on about her mother piling on her worries onto her, how her grades are getting worse and, now, Brandon is ignoring her. She then runs off, crying over how she does not want to hear another word.

Musa comes by and asks Bloom about Stella, to which Bloom explains that Stella cannot stop thinking about all of her problems and they are only getting worse. Musa urges for Bloom not to get upset over it and insists that this will all pass. She then asks if Bloom has heard her new CD yet and the two of them wander off as Musa explains that she cut the CD with a few friends in the test hall. Meanwhile, Stella leaves the college campus and hops on a bus to Magix City.

Soon enough, Stella gets off of the bus right outside the White Horse café and meets Brandon as he parks his hoverbike. As he takes off his helmet, he asks Stella about what she needed to see him for, but Stella is upset that he did not even greet her. Brandon tells Stella that he also had an awful day and asks if she can lighten up for the afternoon but this just makes Stella more and more angry. That evening, Stella returns to the Winx's dorm with a rather sad look on her face. The rest of the Winx are quick to notice this, which prompts Bloom to ask where Stella has been and what happened. All Stella can say is that she cannot believe it happened and she reveals that she and Brandon broke up. Tecna, Flora and Musa quickly huddle around Stella in an attempt to comfort her until Aisha asks whether she broke up with Brandon or whether Brandon broke up with her. Stella claims that she does not really know or understand, but all she does know is that they chose to say goodbye forever at some point. She sits herself on the couch as she increasingly becomes more upset as Bloom and Tecna try to console her. Bloom asks why this all happened, to which Stella explains that she told Bloom already: Brandon had become fed up with her. She then reveals that she told Brandon that if he left her then there was no going back, only for Brandon to leave without a second thought. Stella claims that she was being too desperate as Flora hands her a handkerchief for her tears. As she wipes her face, Bloom tries to assure Stella that everything will come out alright in the end; that this is just a falling-out. Suddenly, Stella perks up and tells Bloom that she is actually happy about what happened, as she now has one less burden to worry about. She claims that she now has the freedom to do whatever she wants and insists that it is a wonderful feeling. Stella then leaves the room to take a shower, leaving the rest of the Winx confused. Tecna believes that Stella may have lost it, but Musa claims that everything will be back to normal as Flora comments on how beautiful peace is. Bloom, however, feels like this problem will not be as simple as they think and believes that this fight with Brandon seems very wrong.

Later than night, as everyone is asleep, Stella sneaks into Bloom and Flora's room and wakes Bloom up. Bloom asks Stella what is wrong, but Stella tries to quiet Bloom down as she does not want to wake up Flora as well. She then confesses to Bloom that she came to her for advice since she is her best friend. Bloom is surprised that Stella came to talk at two in the morning but promptly asks what kind of advice Stella is in need of. Stella explains that she needs Bloom opinion on whether she can find someone else and Bloom immediately starts to worry. Stella then claims that she cannot be by herself and that all the good-looking guys are taken. She asks if Bloom and Sky get along well and Bloom confirms that they do before asking why that matters. Stella then asks if she could get Sky if the two of them ever break up but Bloom still is not sure what Stella is talking about and warns her not to make her angry. Stella tries to quiet Bloom down again after noticing Flora stirring in her sleep and claims that, if Bloom ever wants to leave Sky, then she will help her with it. Bloom becomes increasingly annoyed and asks Stella if she is confessing to wanting to steal her boyfriend. She warns her to stop with all that nonsense and Stella promises to do so as she apologizes. She begins to tear up as she claims that it is all because she is so desperate that she cannot even get any sleep. Bloom hugs Stella as she tries to reassure her with the possibility of her and Brandon getting back together but Stella insists that she does not want him back as he does not understand her anymore. Bloom then claims that there are trillions of guys out there in the Magic Dimension who would love to have Stella as a girlfriend and is confident that Stella will find another guy in no time. Stella hopes that it will happen soon, as she obviously does not want to go without sleep for months on end. Bloom encourages Stella to drink some chamomile tea with her but Stella asks if Bloom cannot sleep now either. Bloom insists that she was sleeping just fine until Stella woke her up and Stella promises to keep her company since that is what friends are for.

The following morning, Stella is in a much better mood now that she got some sleep. Now that she is going to spend her first weekend as a single woman again, Stella plans to go out for a day in the city. She invites Bloom to come with but Bloom plans to catch up on her mathemagics homework instead. After that, she will have to work her shift at the White Horse, too. Stella figures that she will just see Bloom in town later and asks her how she looks. Bloom claims that Stella looks perfect and Stella leaves their dorm, waving goodbye to the rest of the Winx with a smile on her face. Tecna asks what happened to Stella as she has never gotten up this early on a weekend before and Musa suspects that she is probably headed out to find a new boyfriend. Bloom reveals to the girls that Stella has convinced herself that she can live without Brandon and hopes that Stella will not end up deluding herself. Stella tries to enjoy herself by walking through the ever-busy streets of Magix City. She sees a nice dress in one of the storefronts and ask Brandon what he thinks, only to remember that they are no longer a couple. She wipes a tear from her eye as she walks away from the store and tries to tell herself to forget about Brandon. Two guys who appear to be Stella's age see her walk by and find themselves impressed by how pretty she is. As Stella continues walking by, she comments on how cute the taller guy looked and thinks she should have said something. She quickly dismisses this, however, as she believes that she look too desperate if she goes after the first guy who looks her way. She stops in front of a storefront window to admire the beauty in her reflection and is relieved that she can still be. Stella then notices a new clothes shop and rushes over it to treat herself.

Inside, as Stella looks through the various outfits, she is greeted by a redheaded man. She claims that she is just looking around until the man admires her taste in clothes, as Stella happened to choose the exclusive models that he personally chose. Stella asks if he is the shop owner and the man clarifies that his father is actually the shop owner but because he is too old, he leaves him to take care of everything. The man then pulls out a jade scarf and insists that it would go great with Stella's hair. She is immediately taken by the scarf and asks if she can try it on. The man gives her permission to, even adding that she can call him when she needs him, and Stella promptly goes around the shop to try on dresses. The man encourages for her to not stop at just one purchase and Stella proceeds to try out as many outfits as she possibly can until it starts to get dark out.

Stella apologizes for being a pain but the shopkeeper claims that she was no bother since he got to see all of his products on a real model. He insists that it will be useful for future customers and Stella praises him for being so patient and kind with her. She believes that the shopkeeper with end up with lots of customers who become fond of him, but the shopkeeper believes that only a few customers would really be worth it. Stella then tells the shopkeeper what she will be buying and he gets them ready for purchase. As Stella pays for her purchase, the shopkeeper reveals that he gave her a discount so that she could come back for more shopping. Stella thanks him and asks if she could get the shop's business card before leaving. The shopkeeper gives her a business card with his cellphone number written down as well, since he already knows what styles that Stella likes. Stella thanks the shopkeeper and makes her way back to Alfea. That night in the Winx's dorm, Stella tells the girls all about her day with the shopkeeper. She brags about how sweet he was for not complaining even though he had to watch her try on clothes all day, and claims that it is a pity that all guys are not like that. Tecna claims that the man was only being nice to Stella because she was his only customer and points out that if she ended up buying double the amount of what she got, the shopkeeper would have only acted nicer. Stella insists that Tecna's claims are not true as she can understand people better like Aldred, the shopkeeper, because he is special. She then specifies that Aldred is the shop owner, not an assistant, and reminds Tecna that Aldred spent the whole day with her, even when he had a lot to do. Tecna gives up on trying to convince Stella and Bloom tries to get Stella to calm down. She claims that they are all happy to see Stella make new friends and Flora and Musa agree. Bloom then tells Stella to show them what she bought and Stella eagerly takes out the other outfits, insisting that she will tell the Winx all about what happened with each outfit. That is when Musa leaves, claiming that she needs to finish practicing on her flute. Aisha promptly leaves as well, claiming that she has to take a call and Tecna follows suit. Frustrated, Stella starts to think that they are all jealous and Bloom urges for her to ignore them as she should not get mad over how the other girls do not share her passion for clothes. She then encourages Stella to show her all of her clothes and claims that the pink dress Stella had just pulled out looks really nice.

That is when Stella starts to gush over how cute Aldred was which causes Bloom to ask if she is taking things too fast considering how she had just met Aldred. Stella tries to shrug this off by insisting that he is cute, kind and owns a clothing store. She gets more irritated the more Bloom keeps pressing her about Aldred until she decides to change the subject by asking Bloom if she had either heard anything from or got to see Sky recently. When Bloom confirms that she has not as Sky had to return to Eraklyon before they could see each other, Stella insists that this own serves to reaffirm her point of how much worse it feels given how well they treat the boys.

Later that night, Stella tries to convince herself that Aldred is "the one" as she drifts off to sleep. The next day, as Professor DuFour teaches the class on "mindwash tea," Stella texts Aldred once she realizes she never left him her cellphone number. She gets a quick response from Aldred who claims to have been thinking about her as well, which heightens her mood to the point where she skips out on their plans to go out with her friends to have some fun by the lake just to see Aldred.

So once the bell rings, Stella rushes out of the classroom and onto the city bus to surprise Aldred at his shop. However, when she gets there, she is crushed to find Aldred by yelled at by the shop's real manager, revealing that he is only working there as the shop assistant on a trial period. Upset, Stella rushes out of the store and back to Alfea, where she cries into her bed until the Winx return to try and console her.

As Stella cries to Bloom and Flora of her revelation, the two fairies try to calm her down by claiming that all guys simply lie to show off and make themselves seem more impressive than they actually are, but those little lies do not make them bad people. Even with that, Stella believes that she will never be able to bring herself to trust Aldred again and over-exaggerates even more by wondering how many more lies he may have told her. Bloom tries to get Stella to forget about Aldred by reminding her that she and the rest of the Winx are still here for her. She then reminds her that they need to prepare for the coming weekend which Musa adds onto by explaining how they need to help with organizing a treasure hunt that the Cloud Tower Witches came up with. As Tecna and Flora try to encourage Stella to join them, Aisha asks if there will be a prize, to which Musa reveals that the winner will get to work with her music hall choir for a week, which would also help to boost publicity. After hearing all of this, Stella gets the idea to take up a singing course in case she wins and thanks the girls for being her truest friends by trying to cheer her up even when she was being difficult. They then all join hands and cheer in the name of the Winx Club.

Soon enough, the weekend rolls around and the White Horse is packed with young people and couples eager to participate in the treasure hunt. As Bloom makes sure that Stella is having fun, Stella thanks Bloom again for being such a good friend as she tells her how happy she is that they are friends. Timmy soon arrives to help the girls with passing out entry numbers, which prompts Bloom to have Aisha cover for her as she leaves to ask Timmy for any updates of Sky and Brandon. Timmy apologizes as Sky and Brandon are still on Eraklyon and need to stay for another week, leaving Bloom surprised as Sky told her nothing about it. She then asks if Timmy had heard of what happened between Stella and Brandon, to which Timmy reveals that he has and that Sky told him of how angry Brandon has been. He goes on to ask Bloom if things are really over between their two friends but, while Bloom is unsure about it as well, all she knows is tha Brandon being away is not helping to fix things. Eventually, Flora arrives to cover for Stella, who had gotten cramps in her fingers from passing out so many entry numbers. As she leaves to stretch her hands, Stella is approached by a boy wishing to know if she has a partner for the treasure hunt. When Stella asks why he would like to know, the boy claims that he was looking for a beautiful girl to be his partner and was hoping to sign up as a pair with her. Stella begins to humor the boy as he introduces himself as Mikael and asks if she accepts his offer after she gives him her name. Though, unfortunately for Mikael, Stella cannot participate in the treasure hunt since she is one of its organizers, so Mikael decides to invite her out for a walk if she is not busy. Stella takes Mikael up on his offer but leaves first to quickly let her friends know where she will be going.

Stella quickly returns to the entry desk to tell Bloom that she will be taking a small break to go out on a stroll with Mikael but Bloom immediately wonders if it would be a good idea since she has never seen him. Stella admits to not knowing him either, but goes on to claim that she is tired of weak guys and is attracted to Mikael for being determined as he told her right off the bat that he liked her. Bloom still believes this to be a bad idea, which only causes Stella to get irritated as she tells Bloom to not be such a worrywart and leaves to go for a walk with Mikael anyway.

When she joins back up with Mikael, he gets Stella to walk with him down by the lake under the claim that there is "too much confusion" on the boardwalk. When the pair make it to the far end of the lake, Stella admires the beauty of the scenery as she apologizes to Mikael for making him give up the treasure hunt, but Mikael claims that he never had any interest in the event, only in Stella. He then tries to use the opportunity to force himself on Stella to get a kiss and only tightens his grip when Stella tries to break free. Eventually, two shady-looking men appear from behind some nearby rocks asking if Mikael needs a hand after finding such a good girl. Infuriated by these turn of events, Stella manages to break free from Mikael's grip, go into her Believix and rain fiery bolts of light down onto Mikael and his cohorts until they run away screaming for help. With them now gone, Stella remarks on how Mikael's interest in her also disappeared and she returns to the White Horse after the treasure hunt had wrapped up only to cry to Bloom over how there are apparently no more reliable guys out in all the dimensions anymore.

Unable to bear with her situation any longer, Stella asks Bloom of what she should do, so Bloom tells her that, for starters, she should calm down. However, Stella goes on to cry over how she believes she is destines to be alone and asks Bloom of what she should do if she ends up never being able to find a boyfriend. Bloom tries to comfort her and tells her it is okay to be alone sometimes. Stella doesn't get it at first, so Bloom states an old proverb on Earth that goes "Better to be alone than bad company", which assumes Stella is aware of. Bloom wisely explains that finding the right person isn't easy and says it can happen when you least expect it. She then tells Stella that if she doesn't find a boyfriend, that means more time for herself, to do what she wants. Stella than understands being around violent people like Mikael would be bad. She wonders about Brandon, but Bloom says he has the right to be alone and Stella has to think about herself and what is good for herself. This soon cheers Stella up a little bit and she goes off for a walk.

Spells Used
None.

Mistakes

 * When Stella is lashing out at Brandon over the phone on pages 4 and 5, the gloves on Brandon's Specialist uniform are not fingerless and the pad on the back of them is open instead of being dark blue.
 * As Stella storms off to her room on page 22, her lips are all white.

Debuts

 * Aldred
 * Aldred's Manager
 * Mikael
 * Joel

Characters

 * The Winx
 * Bloom
 * Stella
 * Tecna
 * Flora
 * Musa
 * Aisha
 * The Specialists
 * Sky
 * Brandon
 * Timmy
 * Helia
 * Riven
 * Royalty
 * Queen Luna (mentioned)
 * King Radius (mentioned)
 * King Erendor (mentioned)
 * Humans
 * Aldred
 * Joel
 * Mikael
 * Mikael's Cohorts
 * Alfea Staff
 * DuFour
 * Other Alfea Students
 * Marzia
 * Clarice
 * Alice

Trivia
Coming Soon...