Dodger

Ciao Ian. Thank you for your comment. This is a very good question and surprisingly difficult to answer. I am definitely not Robbie. However, the early chapters draw on my own experiences as a teenager and are an honest reflection of a difficult period of my life. I was fifteen when my mom passed away and was forced to move to a country I knew little about and live with relatives who were complete strangers. Despite doing everything they could to make me feel like part of the family, it took me a long time to fit in and make friends. I was a troubled teenager, petulant and argumentative, and not an easy person to live with. Some of these traits can be seen in Robbie, but I lacked his quick wit and wasn’t as sociable. I also like to think I’m smarter than Robbie, although some would argue otherwise. I’m certainly not as cavalier with money, but I didn’t have a million-dollar trust fund waiting for me either. Thankfully, the storylines are pure fiction. There was no Don or Mr Symmonds to make life difficult for me, and I could never persuade my best friend in England to fool around, although we did share a bed for a while. I don’t think I could have handled someone like Nathan as a boyfriend, but I did manage to have a secret high school romance, and later found love. That’s all I can reveal, but I hope it helps. Oh, and I have never lived in Cobourg.

Thank you, @Bill W for reading and commenting. This story is a few years old now, and I think it was my first attempt at a GA writing competition. I'm not surprised that it was a little difficult to read. I cringe whenever I have to look at anything I posted in the early years, and if it wasn't part of a competition, I would probably have removed it long ago. That aside, I'm not sure why Richard invited Jody, but from what I can remember, all the main characters are pretty screwed up, even my favourite, Tommy. Bravo for sticking to the end.

Oops! A bit late for Canada. Call me a fool but I'm cheering for Harry & Co. ⚽

Walter is very well connected even without a cellphone.

Thank you @Joseph OHara. Perhaps the boys will find a way to resume their friendship.

There's not much I can say without compromising the story, but it will end with a bang rather than die slowly!

He is definitely a schemer and doesn't mind misleading people to gain an advantage or to make himself feel better, as is the case with Walter. He also has a few anger issues that get him into trouble, but probably not a violent temper, as described by Nathan. In his physical confrontations, i.e., Alex and Mitch, he usually comes off worse.

Dated, probably, although Robbie doesn't get many opportunities to visit gay websites. Walter is very well-connected.

Nicola would never have allowed it. It would have denied her the opportunity to boss Robbie around and get involved.

The Cobourg Centennial Pool was an unassuming thirty-metre-by-six-lane-wide shallow body of water that, for three months a year, masqueraded as a swimming pool. It was situated behind the trailer park, by the main entrance to the beach, but despite its prime location, it attracted relatively few visitors and was considered uncool by the town’s teenagers. The pool was surrounded by a chain-link fence and accessed via a plain, single-storey brick building that housed basic changing rooms, sho

Thank you, Ian for a wonderful and insightful comment. I think it's fair to say that artificial intelligence has surprised everyone with the rapid pace of its development and you're right to feel unsettled because it threatens everyone. I have used it to compliment the story visually, but I feel the need to point out to anyone reading this that the storyline has not been contaminated in any way or influenced by artificial intelligence. That is and always will be a product of my own twisted imagination. I think the length of time between chapters, the enormous plot holes, and sometimes mass of irrelevant text should be all the proof you need, but joking aside it is genuinely scary for anyone in the business of creating, at any level, amatuer of professional. It's difficult to know for certain whether this monster we have created will end up turning on us or if we will be able to somehow control and limit its abilities, but only a fool would ignore it completely because it isn't going to go away. Exciting times or the end of time. We won't have to wait that long to find out.

This is a word that really sounds like its meaning.

Most of the loose ends will be tied, but not all of them.

I think Robbie and Rory need each other even if it's only as friends. Rory seems to be just as stubborn as Robbie, or maybe he's too infatuated with this girl to think about the friendship he's losing. If his girlfriend figures out that Rory isn't entirely straight, then she could be doing all she can to turn him against Robbie, whom she will view as a serious threat. If this is the case, then she's likely to win, and their friendship will be over, or maybe, as you pointed out, she won't be able to float his boat. Then Rory will have to take a good, long look in the mirror and make a decision, if it's not too late.

Thank you @Ggg for reading and commenting.