Thanks Noah! I think it's important to deal with the issues you're talking about and talk about them. Too often we hide those feelings rather than face them. I'm glad this story gives people the chance to see what it's like to be at this point of desperation, and to know it's okay to get help.
Em is much more perceptive than Billy gives her credit for, and she's known him his whole life so she has a perspective that Billy is blind about. He really thinks nobody has figured him out.
Oh Billy does have issues, that's for sure, but nothing too terrible. He'll be okay in the long run, but getting through the teen years isn't much fun for many of us!
I knew I was stretching it when I wrote it. I probably should have bumped Cold Winter up a year. I think it would have worked better. 9/11 would have been fresh though, and I didn't feel lie addressing that too much. Oh well!
Characters are always the key! You may be right about Dustin. Yes, Brett's punch set a lot of things in motion, didn't it? Now you know the context to Brett's conversation with Jake at the bowling alley!
Hard to think of southern California as conservative nowadays. I think we all have things about our lives we look back on and wish we'd done it differently.