I couldn't help but notice that the chapters are shorter than the first ones. Not necessarily a bad thing. I think that way i want to read it even more. I was seriously jealous of you, when I say you could write chapters with five-digit numbers of words, when my longest chapters have around 2000 to 2500 words ( ). Now that the chapters are shorter, I think that it makes me ache for more, you know what I mean. It's like giving a baby a lollipop, and then taking it out of his end after he's finished, and tell him "there's more next time". And it ends up being easier to read. If it was a book, I would mark the page, problem solved, and i could stop and restart whenever I wanted. But since it's on the internet, sometimes the chapters were so big i didn't have time to read the whole thing, and had to stop. The problem? No marker, no way to know exactly where I stopped. i couldn't help but notice Horn's comment, when he said, and I quote: "Yes, chapter 1 was short too, but then you wrote decent length chapters, though sometimes the gaps were too long either, but at least it was worth the wait for such a long chapters. But now? I am waiting so long for a few paragraphs of text? Sorry, but that seems like disrespect for your readers, who waited so long.". With all due respect, each one has the right to have his own opinion, mine is the following: A good story isn't necessarily big (One of my favorite book is so well written, and has only 200 pages, top, and i still think it's better than Lord of The Rings, for instance). Beside, no matter if it's a long chapter or a short one, if the story is good, as it's the case, it's always worth the wait, no mater how long you have to wait.
Just so that you know, you end up being one of my favorite authors, and not just because of what you write. When you remind me a new chapter has come out, I really think like "damn, he even asks me to read it, it must be important to him that I read it, let's do this!" You may think it's silly, but you really make me fill like reading your story matters. (and I know it does, since I'm a writer as well! [Though I'm more like a wanna-be writer]).
Moving on to the chapter's content! I liked how mature Jacob and Kyle have turned up. I feel more connected with them than ever. The way the other boys acted wasn't right, but I kind of feel like they didn't do it with the intention to harm or use Jacob, Kyle, Nicholas and Matthew. Hopefully they'll get through this and end up being good friends, even without the sexual things. I think Jacob did well in standing up for him, his boyfriend, his brother and Nicholas. At first i thought Jacob was overreacting when decided something for Nich and Matt, but then i thought about how nervous Matthew looked. i think he wasn't prepared to be exposed so forcefully. But then again, if the other boys really didn't want to consider their opinion, they could have continued their sexual activities despite Jacob's protest, and that makes me think that they really aren't that bad. Anyway, it's a matter of reading more next time... (Pleeeeeaasse give me my lollipop baaaack! I still want to know what happened to Sarah, despite her despicable reaction to the boy's coming out!)
Keep up the awesome work, even if it means short chapters, and I support you when you say that you won't give in to reader's pressure. One thing is a reader giving feedback, or giving us advice in what ways can we improve in our way of writing, another is people trying to rewrite a story that's different than what we wanted at the start. Cheers! =D