Shadow086

I agree with all of this. I don't think Brett ever believed his mom's explanation, but after a while he just got tired of the lies and let it drop. This quote from Billy sums things up perfectly: " As usual, things went better than I had expected when I finally got around to talking with my parents instead of just yelling at them like a child." I hope he remembers this for the next time With all this talk about borrowed time, I was expecting George to die by the end of this chapter, but I'm pleasantly surprised that he didn't. To wrap things up: things are looking up for Billy, he's more confident about being out (to total strangers he'll never see again, but that's still a good start), things are stable on the home front, his relationship reached a whole new level, and we get to see some great sex as a bonus. I'm satisfied with the way things turned out. Book Six: I'm not sure how to feel about that. The title would suggest that B&B are finally graduating from high school and leaving the valley behind, which I'm looking forward to seeing. But at the same time, that's a two year time jump, and there's just too many loose ends to be left alone during two whole years: the situation with Jack, Pastor Carl, and of course, Dustin, to name a few. I'm sure there are going to be a lot of changes in those situations that I'd rather see happen in real time instead of Billy mentioning it in passing after the fact. I'll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out. November... The wait is gonna be unbearable! Thanks again for this amazing story!

Jack has more to lose from the affair coming out than Billy does, and he knows it. He can ruin Billy's family, but once the word is out the townspeople will start to look at Brett and Joey and go "Now that you mention it, they do look like brothers!", and then Jack is toast no matter what he does to Billy or his parents. The only things really keeping Billy in check right now are his fear of being outed and his not wanting to upset Brett. Once Brett knows (as I suspect he already does), and Billy comes out at school (as I suspect he might do soon based on what he told Brett about his argument with Paula) Jack will have a lot less power over him. Unless there's a lot we don't know, Jack is still a small-town lawyer, and I doubt he has the influence and connections to ruin Jen's career in addition to Billy's family. Either way, I think the key to Jack's downfall is Pastor Carl. I get the feeling he's doing some shady things and is in league with Jack, so exposing the pastor's corruption would take care of that immediate problem, and also possibly damage Jack's reputation by his association with the pastor, especially if it has legal ramifications. I'm speculating, of course, but this is one of the ways I see for Billy to get himself out of this mess.

They have, and the fact that she's only figuring it out now shows what kind of mother she is. She still has that sanctimonious attitude, and it might be too late for her to fix things with Billy. He strikes me as the type to not forgive and forget that kind of thing very easily, and he typically doesn't want to listen to anyone when he gets like this. With these two's personalities, Paula's attemptes to reach out to Billy will probably make things worse between them.

This could hardly have turned out any better. Chris and Eric are gone, the school has Bailey's back, Declan made it clear Bailey wasn't the one who told. Heck, it even looks like Bailey might be beginning to accept Daniel's presence. Things are looking up. Now, the only major thing left is for Declan to find out about the cutting, and I don't think that's going to take very long if he keeps being so protective of Bailey.

I completely agree. Your stories have a level of polish I don't see from a lot of other authors. It's easy to see you really care about what you write, that's why I always come back to your stories. I'm looking forward to finding out more about this new story you're cooking up for us.

Happy to hear it. Take a break, you've earned it. And you'll get it right, don't worry. love ya, Comsie! *HUGZ*

Wait a minute. Would Paula take the day off so she can catch B&B at her house while they get their school gear, then send them to the Cabin for a week, much like Joey went away? She's probably furious that he didn't come home, and will be waiting for him in the morning so he can't run off again. One thing's for sure: she better not try to take Brett away from him now, because he'll blow up even worse, and he might just leave for good. And how did Jack even find out that Billy knows the truth, anyway? Did Jen tell him, or did he hear it some other way?

This book pisses me off so much, yet I can't stop reading. Bravo Jeff.

I really thought he would, but that would probably have made things even worse. Now, this is about what I was expecting would happen. It could've been worse, I suppose. Considering their social status, it doesn't surprise me one bit. I don't know how effective Jack's threat will be, but the truth will come out at some point. If B&B were smart, they'd try to push their parents to move away from that shithole town, and then drop the bomb about Jack once they're out of his reach. I am SO glad Billy blew up at Paula the way he did. She had it coming, with her sanctimonious attitude. She was probably oblivious to the damage she was doing to her family, and now Billy threw that back in her face and gave her a dose of reality. The fact that she's still going on about her reputation, even after Billy almost outright said he hates her, infuriates me. There's almost no relationship left, and Billy is now basically forcing her to choose between her church and her family. I'm still not sure she'll make the right choice. She still sticks up for them after finding out what they're saying about her behind her back, she's no better than them. So that cabin is probably where they'll spend a few days to cool down, while Paula gets her head out of her ass and makes things right. Or else, she and Jen better hope that their secrets and reputations are worth losing their sons over, because that's what it's looking like right now. And for the record, I don't remember who David is either...

As if Joey wasn't a big enough proof of that.

Well, we know how manipulative Jimmy can be, so my guess is he's going to try and get Billy to be at the right place at the right time to witness whatever Brandon's up to on Mondays. Billy won't believe what he says, but he'll believe what he sees with his own eyes. I still think Brandon goes to hang out with Stevie on Mondays, but that comment about getting his dad out of the house makes me wonder if he's involved in some way. Bobby blew it the minute he told Ian he was a virgin. All it takes is for Ian to talk to someone who knows about that whole mess and he'll find out the truth, Bobby can't get everyone to go along with his lies. And once Ian finds out he's been lied to about something this important, he'll never trust Bobby again. All it takes is one word from Brandon and it's over. Bobby painted himself into a corner and forced Billy to go along with his lying, and now Billy has his hands tied and can't do anything to prevent this train-wreck from happening. And of course, Bobby's going to try to blame him for everything. I never understood why Billy thought coming out to Ian was such a bad idea in the first place. I doubt Ian's first thought would be "Billy Chase is gay, that must mean he slept with my boyfriend.", that's just ridiculous.

*Sigh* I knew Bobby was going to fuck this up. Billy should just try one last time to knock some sense into him, and stay out of it after that. No matter how much Bobby tries to blame him, this isn't Billy's problem. It's clear that Bobby doomed this relationship to failure with all his lies. If Bobby hadn't tried to erase their little fling, Billy could've at least tried to help Ian understand why he gets so upset when it comes to Billy. But no, he had to lie about everything and now he's going to blame Billy when it blows up in his face. It's kinda hard to feel sorry for the guy when he brought this on himself despite Billy's attempts to prevent it. Jimmy...Why didn't Billy just block his email address if he keeps sending these emails? I don't like the timing here, and I think we're about to find out what Brandon does on Mondays. That's probably what Jimmy was referring to. Something big is about to happen, I'm sure. Another great chapter. Thanks, Com!

My sense is that Parker's just being friendly with the other boy and Kevin is seeing something that isn't there because he's insecure about his looks. Parker isn't AJ, and he doesn't feel like the type to dump someone he made a connection with for some hotter guy. If he does turn out to be that type then Com had me fooled.

Another great chapter, Com! Poor Kevin, I hope he's wrong about Parker and that new boy.

Brett moved in when he was eight, so they've all known each other for eight years now. And the elitism comment meant that Joey views Brett as part of their clique, so he's friends with him. Joey will have to suck this one up, but will he be able to leave Billy alone more than Billy was able to stop himself from screaming out Dustin's secrets? I'm not so sure.

Brett moved when he was eight or nine, so he's been there a while. While I suspect Joey knows something, it hasn't been confirmed, so I won't assume that's his reason. It might be because he considers Jen, and by extension, Brett, as part of the 'elite' like he is because of her profession.

I honestly don't think either of them can help themselves. And we don't know how much Joey knows anyway.

@spikey582 The reason I don't want Billy to tell that secret is how much it would hurt Brett if that happened. If it wasn't for that, I'd agree that Billy should go all out and destroy that family of pompous assholes. But not if his boyfriemd gets caught in the middle of that mess. Billy's best move right now is to try to wait it out, move in with Brett when he gets the chance, and never speak to his bitch mother again.

Ha! I knew it! Now how long until Billy blurts it out? Then again, he was able to keep quiet about Dustin's activities... I don't know how, and I don't know when, but the truth will come out eventually. Let's just hope Brett doesn't bring up the subject, because Billy just can't lie to him. It's nice to see Jen be so accepting of their relationship, at least Billy has a place where he can be himself. And of course asshole Joey gets away with it, the pastor is an even bigger hypocrite than he is. Thick as thieves. Speaking of Joey (fuck him), Billy better start playing nice with his brother-in-law.

Maybe she had an affair and Daniel is Bailey's real father. Joking aside, I think Bailey's reading this wrong, and they're just college buddies or something like that. The problem comes from Bailey never having anyone to support him through his grief (now he has Declan), and now he doesn't understand how she can "forget" his father so easily. I don't think there's anything going on between her and Daniel, and I think Daniel genuinely cares about both of them, but it's obvious that Bailey will be hostile to any man he thinks she's "replacing" his father with.

That's the thing, though. I don't think Brett knows about any of this. Joey certainly isn't going to tell him, and it looks like Billy (as usual) is avoiding the issue and doesn't want to tell Brett. That's probably because he thinks Brett's going to go beat up Joey and he doesn't want Brett to get in trouble because of him. Billy doesn't tell him because he always thinks that telling will make things worse. So who else can Billy tell? His mother? It's obvious she won't even listen to him. His father? I don't think there's really anything he can do when Joey's parents are such "pillars of the community". Billy basically stood up to the people who own this town, that might be the most courageous thing he's ever done, and it's going to bite him in the ass when Joey comes back. I can understand Billy's reasons for not telling anyone. They're stupid reasons, yes, but Billy doesn't see the big picture. It's frustrating to see the boys constantly failing to learn from their mistakes, but I always try to see things from their point of view before being too hard on them for it.

And when he does have control over things, he just sits there hoping the problem will go away if he ignores it. That's what's annoying about Billy. I'll take your word for how Billy feels about this, but I'd also consider that he feels terrible because he didn't see how bad Dustin's situation really was, and as his best friend he feels he should have seen it.

Exactly, @jkwsquirrel. Dustin always saw Billy as his knight in shining armour, and it's when that illusion was broken that everything went to hell. Now Dustin sees that Billy's only human, but I don't know if what he told Billy is what he really thinks. I don't know how their friendship can make it through this, because Billy's not going to forget those words anytime soon. While I like Brett's confidence in himself, I don't think he fully understands what it's like to live with someone like Paula. I'm sure having to hear his mother parrot the pastor's sermon about gays does wonders for Billy's self-esteem. And people are calling him a loser, but they don't like him it's probably because he's a dick and acts like he's better than them. Brett doesn't think about the consequences while Billy thinks about them too much. It's that constant overthinking that drives Billy to inaction and makes him look like a coward.

I think you're being too hard on them for what they said to Billy. Maybe they're not maturing as quickly as we'd like, but they're getting better. I know what they were getting at with the "coward" remarks, and I agree with them. Billy never really steps up to defend others when he has to, he just sits back and hopes someone else will take care of his problems for him. Does that make him a coward? Maybe that's not the right word, but they were right to call him out on it. And let's not forget that Billy has a bit of Joey's "I'm better than all of you" attitude as well. Dustin's not being rational at the moment. He destroyed emotionally, and he's trying to blame everything on Billy because he feels betrayed. It's all Billy's fault in his mind, so I can see a reason to take his rant seriously. We see the big picture and we know it didn't happen the way Dustin says. He doesn't, so what he said makes sense in that context. Maybe later on, Dustin will be willing to let Billy explain himself, but at this point I think that if he ever comes back, he'll be Joey x 10. Billy not wanting to come out is in big part about self-preservation, but I also think it's because Billy doesn't want to get noticed. I get the sense Billy sees this town as a 'prison', and he just wants to stay under the radar until he graduates and is 'free' from the place. That's perfectly understandable, and while some people would call that cowardice for not being out and proud of who he is, I don't agree with that. I blame Paula for Billy staying in his glass closet. Her attitude doesn't give him any indication that she'd give him the support he needs if he ever came out, so of course he wouldn't. I wish she'd get her head out of the Pastor's ass long enough to see the damage she's doing to her son, but I don't see that happening unless Billy did something drastic. Personally I think that's what the next chapter will be about, but we'll see. I keep wishing Billy just got up and walked out of that fucking church during one of their anti-gay sermons.

I loved seeing Bailey open up and finally trust someone. And the way they sort of confessed to each other was really sweet. Loved the kiss! It's also good to see Bailey's mom is getting back to her old self. I get the feeling she's going to want to properly meet Declan and make sure he's no danger to her son. Declan's also a bit closer to figuring things out about the cutting, and he'll help Bailey to quit that as well. I like how well Declan's handling the situation at school with the rumours, and it was good to see the gymnastics team put their trust in him when it comes to Bailey. Although I don't know how Justin will react once the truth comes out about what happened. Hopefully he'll see Declan didn't participate in the bullying. The football team seems to be coping pretty well with the news about Chris and Eric, but I predict a loss against Frexbury. I just don't think they'll have enough time to adapt to losing two of their best players, and they'll come up short. Unless, of course, Frexbury is home to the Pitbulls, in which case Mason better watch out.