PrivateTim

Much like the April 1st chapter of some long lost CAP book, I can see Robbie arguing with Mark. "Why do you have to make me such a douchebag," Robbie whined, "and I'm not whining! Erase that!" "Shut up or I'll add 15 pounds to you and make you even fatter," Arbour growled. "I'm not fat! I'm just a little fluffy! I am tried of looking so stupid, I went to Yale for gawdsake," Robbie grew louder. A withering look from Arbour told Robbie no shouting in the story pages. "Your time will come, in less than a year you'll be a hero in this family." Robbie failed to notice the devious glint in his Maker's eye.

Stop me if I am wrong, but aren't Ella and Darius an official couple? If she wants to find her way, so be it, but yes, she deserves to be judged if she is coming on to someone at a party in front of her boyfriend. Is everyone from Claremont fucked up? (Ella, Gathan, Zach, Robbie, Kristen, et al) I have to agree with you on Will's fashion sense, but most of us have clothes that we wear for different occasions. I can see Will having a preppy outfit or two. Mr. Don't tell me what to let's people tell him what to do? Because of my early childhood on Oahu and having lived at the beach my whole life (excluding college) I am a beach wear, Aloha shirt guy on my own time, I used to go to LA parties in my Aloha shirt (pullover Reyn's Spooner only) and khaki slacks. If the party was dressier, I wore a blue sport coat over my Reyn Spooner. One big Hollywood Christmas party I wore the gay uniform, black turtleneck sweater under a blue camel hair coat and gray slacks. I looked like half the douches at the party and a bunch of my friends told me it was my best outfit ever. That alone convinced me to never not be true to myself in casual dress.

Uh..... it's a Mark Arbour story, just talking about Jeanine coming created a hotbed of drama and heavy emotions, which is what Jeanine's coming is for, to create a hotbed of drama and heavy emotions so we can bitch about it being a hotbed of drama and heavy emotions.

“Well, that’s not my prime objective,” I told him, and I wasn’t real nice about it. “I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.” (petulant) “I think it will be just fine,” he said, but his words no longer had meaning to me. (self indulgent/self pitying) If he would have consulted with all of us, or told me about his rationale, this would have been so much easier. (self important) All of Will's worst personality traits came out in this chapter and showed why he was not deserving of emancipation. Why? Where was Will's compromise?

It is so funny, I quoted you so I could say you forgot "manipulative", and that was the exact thing I said 11 years ago. Will is a very manipulative person and it has been especially bad these last few chapters. No, Will's goading of Darius, the lip biting, etc went well beyond sibling snipping. You thought Will's lip biting routine was mature? I pretended to be all upset about that, even biting my lower lip, and that got him really nasty looks from not just Grandmaman, but Ella and Aunt Claire. I pretended to shake it off, when inside I was laughing my ass off. Followed by: “Thanks,” I said, hitting him with my serious smile, the one I usually reserved for guys I was trying to fuck. It was pretty flattering to see him almost recoil when it impacted him. How do people not see through this? How has he not been punched in the face more?

That might happen in real life, but not when the Creator Omnipotent doesn't want it to happen. Will has never experienced any consequences for his misbehaviors. Judge: Now young man, tell me again how your mother physically abused you in Norway? Will: She squeezed my wrist like super hard, I mean super super hard and her nails scratched me. Judge: Umm, super hard, got it. And then something about pictures? Will: Like yeah, this super hot guy was sucking my dick and.... Judge: I am sorry, you are 14 and you were having sex? Was this the only time in Norway? Will: Well no, there was the ice dancer, I fucked him, then the tech guy, he was like 26, my grandfather's assistant, the Swedish skater, my brother's roommate, but we just kissed, and.... Judge: And you were in Norway for a month? Will: Oh no, this was three days... but I am very bashful about my body, that guy took pictures of me! I mean when I was naked and jacking off in the gay club in Rome when I was 13, there was no one taking pictures! That would have been creepy and made me feel violated.....

On a side note, it is a poor decision to leave Harvard-Westlake to go to the Menlo School. H-W is one of the top schools in the country, and by top schools, I mean top 5. Menlo is way down the list. Currently Niche has H-W at #2 behind Phillips Andover, while Menlo is down at #87. I also think leaving behind his friends and life on the beach is a huge mistake. Nothing beats waking up at 6AM, see the waves pumping and know you can get in 90 minutes before school and you can dash home at last bell for more.

I think, "you are always welcome at Escorial" was intended as way to stop Will from making another bad, immature decision like he did TWENTY-SIX DAYS AGO when he went off the deep end and made some poor decisions that put him in danger. I am sure they are wondering if they are ready for Hurricane Will. The doctor agreed it would be best to terminate Jeanine's parental rights. He thought emancipation was a bad idea. I think the subdued reaction is because they are not sure it is a good idea. Yes, they'd rather have Will at Escorial than on the streets, but I think they also feel that Will primarily belongs in Malibu and working out his issues with his father, learning to grow up, not being a petulant spoiled brat. No he isn't. He is not in a desperate, dangerous, intolerable situation. He is a newly minted 14 year old who doesn't like being told what to do. He has exhibited any number of poor decisions. Emancipation is not in his best interest. Inviting in federal law enforcement to deal with Michael would not have been the best decision. Who knows what Michael might know about family skeletons. They were right to just bury the issue. They should have explained to Will why better, but hardly a justification for emancipation.

Palo Alto's runway is under 2,500 feet. Unless Wade was going to use a Piper Cub or Palo Alto installed a catapult, 2,500 feet is about half of what a jet needs for takeoff 😁

This was 2000 so maybe premature on every teen in America taking nude pics of themselves to send to whomever, but so many don't seem to care about nude pics and explicit vids getting out. It doesn't, it won't. He'll get emancipated, but it won't make him a better, more outward focused person. Even in the circle, when two people pair off they blow off all their friends.... and then the break-up comes and they expect their friends, the ones they've been blowing off, to be there for them. This is exactly how I feel. The Brad of the last few chapters is vastly different from the Brad of the chapters where Will ran away and the reconciliation chapters that followed. I get not wanting Jeanine to deal with federal charges of child porn, but all the more reason to disappear Michael. But, I also get that Mark knew where he wanted to take this story by this time and he needed to write Brad in such a way to get the story to that point. I agree with everything I said in this post 11 years ago. The one modification I might make is that he does not get much of a say in how his life is run. The thing that is hard is to reconcile how I think Brad would really be acting now versus how Mark has him acting. I think Brad would be listening more and explaining more to Will at this point. I also think Brad would have had Jeanine so full of thorazine that she would have been incapable of causing problems. Brad obviously love Will much more then he does Jeanine, I think it would be a no brainer that he'd side with Will and sideline Jeanine.

Two weird side thoughts: I’d taken JP’s stallion, because he didn’t get as much exercise, and because I wanted a challenge. He could be difficult to handle, so most people opted to ride the mare instead That makes it sound as if Escorial only has two horses, surely they'd have many more, maybe a dozen. I was flying on a commercial airline, in first class, but it was still a commercial airline. I had to drive all the way to San Jose Wouldn't he have to drive to San Jose anyway? In 2000 I am pretty sure SJC was the only option for private jets close to Palo Alto.

If you've never had a Matt or Brian in your life, it is hard for someone who has to convey what those emotions do to you.

I think I've decided that "working" is Brad's stress behavior. Yes he has lots of work to do, but he uses his work to get away from things he'd rather not deal with.

I feel the bolded point even more strongly the second time through. I think Brad would still be traumatized from Will's running away and hired extra security, if even only to watch from afar. He can certainly get better, more discrete help than the guys Will ditched in Paris and I don't think he would have sat by while Jeanine hurt Will. I think with his own ongoing therapy he be more attuned to what was going on in Will's mind. Wah wah wah

So is it the next chapter where a safe falls on Will ala Wile E. Coyote? Gawd I hope so. At this point it has been 18 months in real time since the start of PMS, but only 4 months in CAP time and Will has gone from a virgin pining for John to a complete slut and no concerns or thoughts about anyone, but himself. This is the book where I started rooting for the sharks every time Will goes surfing.

I so had forgotten that Mr. Hudnut was at Harvard-Westlake at this time and that Peter was playing polo at Stanford for Dante.

The crap he pulled with Neil and Carson, then his attitude when Will ran away. Stef was right to be indignant.

Well, yeah. Except they screw around. :-). Well duh, that is what 14 year old boys do. Buried deep within? Mark wears his adolescence on his sleeve 😋 At this point, I would have thought "Paternity" was winding down. Who knew it had 57 more gutwrenching chapters to go?

No he shouldn't. Sue Ellen was playing with a rattlesnake, thinking she was in control. No one should be surprised when your pet rattlesnake sinks its fangs in you. Like you were around back then. You probably thought Spago was good. 🙂 I liked the original Spago off Sunset, but I was furious when they took over the Bistro Garden space. The Bistro Garden was my favorite place growing up and where my parents took me for my Middle School and High School graduation meals. We sat next to Heather Locklear there once and she smiled at me 😍🥰

This story (CAP) has so many dang characters it is impossible to work them all in and it has to be hard as an author, remembering exactly what your vision/personality for every character you have created. I'm glad you see it that way. Some older guys forgot their adolescence, and think kids like Will should be beaten until they bow deferentially to their elders. Naw, you just ship them off to Carlsbad Army Navy Academy......

Not really... everyone knows that Stanfurd girls are ugly because they are just guys who studied their balls off...

I think he is more trouble than he is worth, Did you know it had 63 more chapters at this time or did that just sneak up on you? No he ain't. Meh... no comment.

As I read this 11 years later, it needs to be said, two things can be true at the same time. Stef has been perfectly right on with Brad and Robbie this book. But it is still easier to parent someone's else's kid. I have no doubt Stef would have done a better job, but I also think Will would have sorely tried his patience and JP's as well. I did. And for the non-surfing crowd, a Hawaii wave is much more powerful than a California wave. A wave hitting the mainland has the continental shelf to dissipate some of its power (energy). It may not effect the height, and a 20 foot face wave in CA can still kill you, but in Hawaii it can obliterate you. The Hawaiian islands are mountain tops sticking above the ocean. Mauna Kea is the highest mountain on earth, eclipsing Mt. Everest. Because there is no continental shelf to dissipate any power from the wave, even a 6 foot face, ala Sandy Beach shorebreak, can kill you or snap you in two. People don't really change, they modify their reactions and behaviors if they figure themselves out. Will ain't going to change either. Oh, and I still think Jeff is a douchebag 11 years later, maybe mores so.

I grew up in the era of email and internet. I remember going through CompuServe, then Prodigy to AOL. I was fortunate to learn early on NOT to send an email just because I had finished writing it and especially not if I was writing in anger. I would type it and then leave it alone for at least an hour. When I reread it an hour later, even I cringed at how strident or even mean I'd been. And when I say, "I learned..." I mean only after I had really pissed off good friends with obnoxious responses to them because we were not in the same place on some matters. The lessons were painful, but worth the life lesson.

Bra, if you don't understand Ryan's about face, you didn't have enough sex when straight guys when you were a teen. 1) You're a fag 2) I'm not a fag 3) That was gross ) Bro, can you suck me again? We don't know who did and did not send Will an email or call him. We only saw a select number of the emails to move the story. As to the phone, all we know is who left voicemails (I think). When your phone is off, you don't get a log of who called. I get people to do what I want because I convince them to. I am Wade, or my namesake Father Tim, I am cool and calculating and don't react. I learned at a very early age how to not give off any reactions. I can manipulate people, if you choose to use that term, without them knowing they are being manipulated. Will is MUCH safer in the mainland surfing scene than he is surfing with locals (if you know what a 'local' is in Hawaii) in Hawaii.