wenmale64

I also agree. I started reading this story over on Nifty and fell in love with it. The characters and settings paint a vivid picture of a very talented and lonely 15 year old boy with so much potential. KD leads us on a path to self awareness and emotional developement, while also showing how lives of others intermingle to develope each other and themselves.

Great chapter with a very happy outlook. I can't imagine how Callen would feel when his blind date turned out to be a cute buff jock . Ryder is finally seeing his life moving forward in a positive direction. The team is cheering him on, possibly a boyfriend, playing ball with Jeremy.... What could go wrong? I'm sure we will find joys and dispare in the future. Keep it going KD...

Great to see from the outside that Billy has a real crutch in Emily, if he will only use it. Billys dads medical problem has been comming for a while. It will be very interesting to see how this event plays out. Billy may blame himself, his dad or the rest of the world or all of the above for his dads failings. I hope this resolves with no or minor long term effects for George and he gets the wake-up call to take care of himself and help Billy discover the path to a happy life. Brett is actually an amazing boy. Please no not hate me while I explain my thoughts.... Brett is obviously starved for love. Billy fills that void to a point. It is amaxing that Brett can take the verbal abuse that Billy throws and not be more than just mad and hurt for a short time. The rant about the 'retarded' actions is saying that Billy thinks Brett is 'retarded'. While this is only a word, with Bretts issues, that word is a knife slicing through his soul when said by Billy. If it were me, I think I would run crying and really not want to forgive the person I loved for being so hateful. In this way I think Brett really has a warm soul and will eventually help Billy grow up. Time will tell. Emily is an interesting card. I think she actually has a knowledge or feeling about all of the boys that goes deeper than anybody knows. Her comment about both wanting the same thing seems to be spot on right now. Maby she can bring everyone to a calmer and more friendly place..... As before, great writing Jeff. Please keep up the good work. I look forward to the last chapter and the future part of the story. And as always--- Please don't hurt the boys to much . Rob

Great intro and setup for a very interesting and emotional story. Looking forward to the next chapter and the beginning of TJs next chapter in life. Many possibilities for all involved.

I am so sorry for what you went through growing up and finding yourself, but I am also very happy you found your Tony and are sharing your life with us. **HUGS** to both of you.

I really like the way this story progresses. Nathans sister is really a great sibling. I am waiting for friday and even more for the eventual hapenings when the secret is revealed. Hopefully everyone of importance will get over their shock and be the friends, siblings, gaurdians/parents every teen needs. Waiting with crossed fingers...

Confirmation of the very questionable actions between Dustin and Mike. Not to suprising considering the offer Dustin made to Billy with the poker game... Amanda has shown some truth in her actions. She is still a bitch, but she is being very honest with her discriptions and evaluations of Billys actions. Billys mom has seen the light and is being very understanding and hopefully helpful with his need to understand his own failings and emotions. Billys dad needs to understand also. Telling your son that he is a disapointment to the family is unfortunately a very cruel and damaging way to express your anger. This will take a lot of time and trial to rebuild the damage to trust and emotion. With Georges health at a crossroads, now may turn out to be the worst possible time for this to have happened. With Billy still unable to see Bretts drug problem, there are obviously rocky roads to travel in the near future. Will Billy be able to keep Dustins secret secret, who knows. Will Brett be able to hold himself and Billy togeather when the pieces start to fly in the upcoming emotional and most likely physically breakdown? Great work and wonderful writing. The pictures of Billys struggles that your style create in the mind are simply amazing. Keep it comming. Rob And please don't hurt the boys to much......

Have a wonderful birthday and many more !!!

I will try to stay on point with this chapter as I was one of the ones that got chapter 15 before this Good chapter. Being 'out' does not seem to be a big thing with the core group, or anyone else yet... The new character, Erik, seems to be, well, creepy as all of the group have mentioned. Even Warren made the comment and stuck up for Toni until Marc took over. We will see how this developes in future chapters. Great job, keep up the good writing. Rob

I think Toni needs to talk with Marc about his feelings and his concerns. Eric is obviously trying to stir the pot and is suceeding because of Tonis insecurity. Marc also needs to tone things down a bit. His actions undermine Tonis feelings of self worth and make him want to push back to prove he can handle his own life. Hopefully the next chapter will let both of them move forward with a better understanding.

I completely agree with Droughtquakes assessment of Billys condition. Add his denial of Bretts drug use, his mothers self image preservation, his fathers inability to properly respond to his total shift in personality, the school administrations blase aproach to the actions of "higher class" students (read parents of influence) and the insane status of both Bretts mom and Dustins whole family and it is no wonder that Billy needs a straight jacket. Billy has been hurt by both of his parents and has lashed out with some very hurtful words himself. I most certainly hope his wishes for his fathers downfall do not come true, but the story is primed for a very big firestorm. Bretts drug use, Dustins various issues/problems, Billys emotional instability, Paulas religious idiocy (sorry this one is a big pet issue to me), Georges general overreactions and general upset and simply everyones refusal to simply talk AND listen to each other without reacting before thinking leads us down a very dark and lonely path. I hope the turmoil will begin to calm and hurt feelings can be soothed and peace can be seen on the horizon..... I don't know . Jeff you are a wonderful writer and have the ability to draw emotion from every sceen, good and bad. Please keep up the great work and show us some light quickly And you are really hurting the boys. Please help them....

Well we finally meet Jeremy and he seems to be the rock Ryder needs. Shawn is acting a little strange and Ryder obviously has feelings for him. I hope those feelings do not get him hurt or in trouble... time will tell. What is going to happen at school with the team? Coach now has his 'dream team' in the making, but they are outsiders to the local boys. I see potential issues rising. We will see. Great story. Waiting for more .

Yep, definately out now . Hopefully Toni and Marc will move forward without a lot of hassle. Warren seems to actually be holding up his end of the deal. Maby Warren can find someone to be his companion. Looking forward to more..... Great work.

I think the fact that you can ask these questions speaks volumes. You have admitted that you are having some issues in this relationship and are even questioning if it is love or a FWB relationship. I think a prudent way to view this is with open communications and honesty. Go slow and see what happens. Ask questions and answer questions. Be yourself and see how it feels. Enjoy each other and be friends first. If it becomes easier and comftorble then you will know much more. If it continues to feel like a spring fling then keep looking for Mr. right but cherish the friendship, benifits optional until one of you finds a life companion. My two cents worth, your mileage may vary....

We have a small fiber optic tree. It really is not much, but as we both spend most of our time working and have no kids except the cats (see avitar) the small sparkley light tree serves the purpose. We enjoy the idea of Christmas and each others company so the little tree works for us.

I find this very easy to answer after reading the above posts. If you feel the need to hide your actions then it is cheeting!!! There is no other way to look at it. Now, if you and your partner have honest and open communications about this AND come to an honest acceptance of each others feelings AND abide by those feelings then it is not cheeting. However, this might not lead to the relationship you expect. Simply put--- be honest with yourself AND your partner and expect the same in return and do not venture outside those boundrys. If both of you can do that then, and only then, will the relationship have a chance to survive the tests of time. I have been married to my wife for 23+ years. I finally came out of the closet to her a little while back. After the tears the first question asked by her was: have you had a relationship with anyone else? My honest answer was NO. With that answer we have been able to move forward and with work and honesty have a good marrage still. Openness and honesty will carry you well and far. Rob

Very good chapter. We finally get to the bottom of the Marc/Warren issue. Toni finally admitted to his relationship with Marc. The principal was very understanding and fair with both Toni and Warren. We now know for sure that Warren is gay... what will this mean in the future. Can the past be mended and everybody get along? Time will tell. Great story. Looking forward to many more chapters. Keep up the good writing

Many things boiling to the surface in this chapter. Billy is boiling over and things seem to be swirling out of control in his life. He is terified of what will happen if he is found out, so he is hiding and letting things stress him even more.... Dustin seems to be on the take. Is he being bought/groomed to be Mikes boy? Mike is looking more and more like a bad person. We will see. Dustins home life seems to be bottoming out so things may look up a little. We seem to be building up to a VERY big confrontation with Brett. Billys thoughts on drug use was made quite clear. Where will this lead and will Billy be able to understand and help Brett overcome his self defeatist thoughts? The dyslexia and comprehension problems are making Brett a very tense and stressed boy. His frustration is really sad as Billy is trying so hard to help him and Brett seems to be unable to understand. It is an interesting condition where Brett can comprehend just fine if material is read to him, but is not even able to recognise the same material if he trys to read it himself. Now for Billys blow-up, both at school and at home.... He has simply reached his boiling point. Billy has always been the "good boy", so any outburst will be met with shock from both teachers/administrators and parents. I think we have only seen the beginning of Billys meltdown. Now, Billys mom really did not handle the situation well. I understand that she was blindsided by the actions of her "good boy", but she really should have given him a chance to explain his actions. It is especially troubling to hear the undertone of religion rearing its head. Who cares if Billy got into a fight with the kid of someone from the church. The bigger question is: What the hell happened to cause this kind of over reaction? Mom needs to take a chill pill and regroup. Georges health issues are going to cause big problems in the future, possibly the very near future (within the week?). Now for Max and Amanda..... I hope the lock Max up and loose the key. Hopefully Amanda will be put in her place and learn that her drug dealing boyfriend is no friend at all. I know, never will happen . So much to weed through and so little time.... The future chapters will be interesting times. Keep up the great work, Jeff. You have great talent and the ability to pull us deep into the world you have created. Please don't hurt the boys to much............. Rob

Great chapter . Ryder is beginning to make friends on his first day of school. What is the thing with Jeremy not returning texts or answering his phone? Is there a problem, especially with coach flying back to the old home town so suddenly? Hopefully we will find out soon. Great writing. QWaiting for more....

Very interesting and informative chapter. Alan and Peter need to find a way to relax more. Obviously, Alan had a very tough thing to face after the message from his mother. How do you tell a parent that their son-in-law is dead and their daughter is going to be layed up for months or more? And now there is the delay in the parents returning and the other grandparent(s) legal challange. Whew, makes me sweat just thinking about it. Thank goodness for the wonderful friends. They will help keep Alan and Peter sane as well as help the boys by adding other faces to the home. I do hope the childern issue for Steve and Keeds can be worked out without hurt and sorrow, we will see. Great story. Looking forward to the future chapters.

Well things are looking up . Hopefully Toni will be able to accept that Marc is real and that Marc will understand that Toni is just scared. I think their friends will have a huge part in making both see the truth. Great story and great characters. Maby a meeting of the mothers in the future? Looking forward to the next chapter .

How sweet, how sad, how true..... God Speed to all Rob

I am glad that it did not blow up to bad. Marc definately needs to ease off a little, but Toni needs to see that he is surounded by caring friends. Marc also needs to trust his friends not to tromp on his emotions. I find it hard to understand Tonis hesitation to show a little more closeness to Marc. With the circle of people that obviously don't care about him liking Marc it seems that a little more attention would be OK. We will see where this goes. Matt could be the best thing for both Marc and Toni by providing an outside view of both over reservation AND over exuberance......

YEA!!! Now you are fixing them. Well as others have said there are some dark clouds on the horizon. I think Bretts mom knows what is going on even if she is not able to pin it down. Very few people could have her credintials and not know something. It really suprises me that she does not know/suspect the drug use....Hmm. Billy is simply innept when it comes to the things that teens do. Dustins sister very plainly spelled it out about Brett being a customer of her drug dealing boyfriend... enough said. The issue of not telling Brett the whole truth about the incounter with Dustin will definately cone back to haunt him. Hopefully Billy will find a way to ease into the full story and be HONEST with Brett and take his lumps. Billy has issues to work through both at home, with Dustin and at school, not to mention himself. Admiting you are gay and being comftorable and open are VERY different things. He is very correct when he says that other people will not be all smiles and pats on the back about his 'new' relationship. Brett is also living in a fantacy world and hopefully will figure it out before someone hurts him or Billy very badly. As for Dustin, he is a story of his own. Between family, friends, neighbor and all other things he is a disaster waiting for a place to happen. I hope Brett and Billy can muster to his side and help him be true to himself without any self harm. The neighbor is really becoming scary as is Amandas boyfriend, Max. I've known people like Max and they live by diferent rules and hurting others simply does not bother them. They view it as the cost of doing business (drugs). As always Jeff, Thank You for an excelent story and a great chapter. Please keep up the GREAT work. Rob And Thank You for starting to mend the boys, Your great !!!!!!!!!!!!

Ryder is scared to death. It is obvious that Jeremy is/was his safety net and he is now MIA and this leaves Ryder floundering in self pity. Shawn seems to be there for him but has issues of his own. In the upcoming chapters we hopefully will see Ryder, his father and maby some new friends work forward toward a more stable life. Now we all know that teens are very reactionary and dramatic so what the future brings may very well be a tremendous theatratrical production. Stay tuned for Act II.... As always your writing and characters are great and the story unfolds in layers like a fine pastery. Please keep up the good work my friend, and as always... Please don't hurt the boys. Rob