jkwsquirrel

Yinzer is a term of both endearment and derision around these parts.

I don't think he knows exactly what he's unleashed.

Saint Tyler... Well, he couldn't be a tool forever. Yeah, Aiden had the right to say whatever he wanted to his dad. Mr. Hartley... I love your comments. Dude just enjoys fucking with people.

Dustin's scene in this chapter illustrates just how much Mr. Hartley's influence has corrupted him. I think Aiden had the right to act like he did toward his father. If not for him, Aiden wouldn't have been such easy prey for Mr. Hartley.

What a weekend Ty and I had together! No, I’m being serious. It’s amazing what fun two guys who have decided they have nothing to lose and don’t give a fuck can have with a cell phone camera. We rode our bikes to some awesome places, took some amazing pictures, and had a generally fun time. We stayed at my place and let me tell you, the sex was amazing! We were getting better at figuring out what turned each other on and having fun exploring each other. We weren’t laughing on Monday however

My favorite Billy quote regarding Mr. Hartley was a scene in Commencement at the prom 6-21 - The Dance, in bold below: “Can I go now, Mr. Hartley?” I asked. “Of course, Mr. Roberts. But if I were you I would keep a closer eye on your friends. I would hate to see our best and brightest brought down by the mistakes of others.” Okay, that was creepy.

He appeared throughout Commencement, antagonizing Billy, mocking his intelligence, and being a general pain. (A quote - "There you have him, ladies and gentlemen, the smartest boy in school!") His main scene was in WAR 6-22, The Last Screw. He's mentioned very briefly in Dustin's World, but I never mentioned what happened to him.

You know, I've written horrible tales of revenge many times and deleted them and moderated to what's been published. Dustin killing his father, Billy setting the church on fire, Aiden spreading pictures of Tyler all over the school in revenge for being the rook. All kinds of stuff, and then I delete it. About as vicious as I got that made it to the story was Dustin beating the crap out of Brett. That one had to happen though. But I like the idea that people can be forgiving and forgiven. In today's world there's not a lot of forgiving going around. As for Tyler's change in character, I guess I'm just an old softie who believes love can change a person, or at least reveal things about a person that were previously unseen. He was a real tool in the early chapters. You wouldn't expect anything wise to come out of that kid, but there it was. Oh, and all this conversation and no one mentioned just how much of a dick Mr. Hartley was for the way he talked about Dustin's family behind his back. I can't even call him two-faced. He's multi-faced, or something.

"Good morning school! It's great to be your new principal. I have to go now, my planet needs me." Mr. Hartley died on the way back to his home planet.

Or is it already too late?

I'm familiar with Oil City. I've even been there once. Always fun to see some place you know about mentioned in a work of fiction!

Thanks!

Brett Reilly on his "A game" vs. Mr. Hartley... Reminds me of Ferris Bueller's Day Off. There are a couple of people in the story who I think could give ol' Jeremy a run for his money. Bobby Rush doesn't put up with a lot of BS. But the biggest threat, I think, is Billy. Billy could have given him a challenge if he hadn't been blindsided, in fact that may have been the reason for the blindside attack. A focused Billy is a relentless opponent. Billy was willing to take on the whole town at one point, after all. That Mr. Hartley is willing to go to such lengths to get Billy out of the way shows the respect (or is it fear) he has for Billy. Billy isn't a pawn, Billy is the opposing king.

He was always smart, Aiden just didn't see it. Kind of like how he only sees one side of another character lurking around in the background. But mainly, it's because of his love for Aiden that he finally begins to see through the lies Mr. Hartley has told him.

You can never go wrong re-reading WAR. 😉 I will say this though, I left it ambiguous what happens to him. Sometimes the bad guy wins.

😎 He was the "Rookie" in the last chapter. Mwah ha ha ha ha!

He better stay away from bus duty at the school! Yikes!

What I love about Hartley is that he's so convinced he's right, and so cocky about it. He was my favorite villain in WAR, and he was only in a couple of chapters. Was Aiden's War just an excuse to write about Mr. Hartley? Maybe...

“Can I sit with you?” Tyler asked as I sat in my usual spot in the cafeteria, alone. “Uh… Yeah, sure,” I replied. No one had ever asked to sit with me before. “How’d it go at home?” “It went,” Tyler said, sitting down in the seat next to me. “Mom cried. Dad went for a drive and has been weird ever since I told him. Like, he doesn’t know what to say so he doesn’t say anything. My brothers… Well, Jimmy said he’d kick my ass when he came home from college and Chris asked me if I’d sucked

You hit the nail on the head all over the place here, Spikey. This isn't the same Dustin who had found peace at the end of Dustin's World, this is Dustin on the road to becoming the hopeless, defeated, and angry young man he was at the beginning of DW. In his search for a father-figure, he's reached out to Mr. Hartley, who is using him to do his dirty work while he lurks behind the scenes. Hartley's influence that is feeding Dustin's worst instincts. He's picking up Hartley's condescending nature. But in the end, he's being used just as much as Aiden is.

It's like an "out-of-Billy" experience.

Quite the roller coaster! I think we can feel angry with him for the way he went after Dustin even if we understand it was coming from his own woundedness at the way the older boys were treating him. We know just how sensitive Dustin is about what happened to him. Aiden hit the raw nerve that got Brett destroyed when he touched it long ago. After what Dustin did to Brett, it's a good thing Doug was there to stop him from really going off on Aiden. We'll explore the regret Tyler has over the way he acted in the next chapter. Why was he acting like such a tool in the earlier chapters if he's really been in love with Aiden all along?

She's known what's been going on between these boys from the beginning. Aiden doesn't hide anything from her, so the biggest sign of trouble is when he starts hiding things from her. With Tyler, there's literally nothing to hide. Aiden and his mom can appreciate Tyler's lindo trasero together.

The playing field is definitely more even between Ty and Aiden. Aiden was out of his league with the big boys.

Seriously, is Aiden's mom (her name is Anna by the way) the only person in town who's ever heard of condoms?