Shadow086

Jesus died because he was denouncing corrupt priests, and 2 000 years later we're told to listen to corrupt priests (and preachers and tele-evangelists) and accept their words as facts. We learned nothing. The more I learn about the things the church did (and continues to do), the more anti-religion I become. Speaking of course about organised religion, I don't care what people believe in their own homes.

I was referring to Christians. Among Christians, I think it's almost only a US thing. Because, of course it's to prevent the mortal sin of masturbation. I'm sure it worked really well, right? Thank the Romans for that! They saw a lot of what's in the bible and went "Nah, we're not doing that." All they really did is add Jesus to whatever they were already doing. But I don't think this is the place for a discussion on the history of religion.

More babies! Have more babies, even if it kills you! That's why most Western societies (except the USA) massively turned their back on religion. I believe that we as a species have evolved beyond the need for religion. It served its purpose, and now it's just holding us back. Besides, if you need a 6 000 year old book to tell you how to be a decent human being, you don't belong in society.

The Old Testament is just a bunch of nonsense and a code of laws. I don't see what god has to do with the fine to pay for killing your neighbour's sheep. I haven't read the whole bible, but from what I remember this is not a loving god at all. I think that practice is mostly in the US. I don't know anyone who was subjected to that. Can you imagine telling these people they have to stop eating bacon and ham? Good luck with enforcing that one.

Then she's not a good Christian. She should have babies every year. That's what Catholic priests used to say.

#.05 is sort of in the bible, but not in those exact words. It's in Leviticus, along with other abominations such as cutting your hair, shaving your beard, eating seafood, and wearing clothes made of mixed fabrics. But people don't seem to really care about those other things, so it looks like we're all sinners that are going to hell anyway. #11 is just something they invented to try to make us believe they don't hate gays. If you've ever read the bible, you'd know it's just a book full of hatred and intolerance. But it's broad enough that anyone can cherry-pick the parts of the bible that reinforce their own prejudices. That's what all these 'Christians' do, and it makes the rest look bad.

Billy didn't dump Brett, but I would've if Brett was my boyfriend. My dad was a smoker too (he quit a while back), and I couldn't stand it growing up. No, but it's still one of the Ten Commandments. Yet another proof that these so-called 'devout Christians' are nothing but phony hypocrites. Just for fun, let's say that it was the other way around; you think Paula wouldn't try to have his head? I have no sympathy for her or her reasons. Billy's right, she's a phony bitch, and the sooner he can cut her out of his life, the better. When I think about it, I'm starting to see Paula as a personification of the town itself, with all its flaws and its hypocrisy and attitudes.

It will become clear. It's just that the chapter titles never mean what I think it means when I first see it. So I decided to turn it into a little game, where I try to see what you want us to think it means, then look for clues in the chapter or past chapters to figure out what the next chapter will be about, and what the title actually means. I just don't like smoking, it's a big turn off for me. I worked with smokers and cigarette breath is disgusting. To be honest, if I were Billy, and I found out that Brett started smoking, I'd probably dump him over it. That's how much I can't stand it. I almost forgot about Paula. It sound like she's cheating on George with that pastor (like any 'good Christian' would do). But whatever, like Billy, I don't care what she does. I wish Billy would just tell her and move out of there so we wouldn't have to deals with her and her hypocrite church friends. If my mom was like that I'd have moved out at 18 and never spoke to her again.

Billy doesn't have the courage to do that, but he can't ignore it this time. It's also possible that he thinks getting involved will only make things worse for Dustin (hard to imagine, I know), or that he doesn't think the cops or CPS would even bother to take Dustin out of there. And he also thought Dustin was just going to run away to safety, he probably wasn't expecting things to turn out like this. That's just like Billy, standing there watching until it's too late, then feeling guilty for not doing anything sooner. We don't even know if the blood is Dustin's. It's probably his, but it's possible that it's not as bad as it looks. I really think this is the time where Billy doesn't let him go back to his shitty life, though.

I'm glad Dustin finally confessed to Billy, even if it was too late. It did sound like a 'goodbye', though. I said it way back in Rehabilitation, Dustin never gave himself a chance at being with Billy. Maybe now Billy can understand Dustin's attitude towards Brett. Dustin doesn't drink as far as we know, it's probably his father's doing, he got himself drunk and abused Dustin again. And Dusty, please stop smoking. But at least he's out of that house now. My feeling is It looks worse than it is, and Dustin will end up staying at Brett's house. If he wants to stay away, Brett's house is the last place people would look for him. And things will get better because, thanks to Billy's big mouth, Miss Winston knows that some of the rumours are true. Oh, and I called it about the driving test. Dustin's Revenge? Considering he'd rather run away than send his parents to jail where they belong, I doubt it has anything to do with them. That leaves Brett. I wouldn't be surprised if Dustin ended up in a situation where he could try to convince Billy to sleep with him, to get back at Brett. We'll see, but trying to guess what the title means is fun.

As far as Billy goes, Dustin sees it as losing his grip on something he never really had, and because of that he threw away what he did have. If he always saw Billy as his boyfriend, then yeah, he lost his grip on Billy. But it looks like Dustin decided that he wasn't happy just being his friend and turned his relationship with Billy into an 'all or nothing' deal, and unfortunately for him he ended up with nothing.

I don't agree with all of this. The park and his parents, sure; Mike, he lost that by stealing his car, and while I'm sure he thought he had a good reason, it's kind of his own fault. But he gave up sports, that was his decision; and he gave up Billy when he pushed him away over the fight with Brett. He always had Billy as a friend. Maybe that's not all he wanted from him, but he always had Billy up until now. Funny enough, Brett is probably the only one who can convince Billy to forgive him at this point.

I like how I made a super long comment about Dustin and you comment on the fact I said "hot sex". I noticed that we only see the sex when it's relevant to moving the story forward. The first times (of course), the sex in Chapter 2 was there to lead to the conversation with George, and probably the Paula drama as well; then there was the time they "almost" got caught, and the latest time was to have Billy there to let Dustin in the house. I really like the fact that the sex serves a purpose and isn't just there for the sake of having sex. I just wanted to let you know that the sex is hot, and I especially like how Billy becomes a completely different person during sex.

@droughtquake Exactly, but your mind is still as alert as it's ever been. It must be devastating, I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy. I'd probably try to kill myself before reaching that stage.

At this point I don't think Dustin's much of anything, especially not a jock. From Billy's description he's just skin and bones, his muscles should have weakened enough that Billy would be able to offer some resistance.

@spikey582 I think people tend to underestimate how dangerous those head injuries can be. He probably was able to get up because of adrenaline and willpower. However, Brett does need to go to the hospital, but again, he underestimates his injuries, and probably thinks he can just sleep it off and his mom won't notice. I think something's going to happen overnight and Brett will be taken to the hospital. I don't think Jeff's cruel enough to make Brett die from this, but he might be mean and have Dustin brought back in for the skillet injury, and put Dustin and Brett in the same hospital room. Wouldn't that be a fun time for the boys?

I think it's more like a loss of motor functions caused by the stroke he had. But he still finds himself unable to do all he could before, and you can tell it's a big blow to his pride. By the way, a politician up here had ALS, and it progressed really quickly. What a brutal illness. I can't imagine how powerless it must feel to know your body's shutting down and there's nothing you can do about it. For most people the mind is the first to go, and I think it's less painful that way (for the person, not the loved ones).

Yeah, it's not like he didn't react the same way with Billy (twice). But he was conditioned to respond that way by his asshole parents. I still feel bad for Dustin and think he deserved a better life than he got, but at this point he's not someone I want to see at Billy's side. Brett had it coming for sure, but what if it was Billy that told his mom? As weak as Billy is, Dustin would probably have cornered him at his house and killed him because Brett wouldn't have been around to hit Dustin with a skillet. It might be too late to rid Dustin of this violent behaviour, so I think it's best if B&B stay far away from him. It really pains me to say it, but after the way he brutally assaulted (and nearly killed) Brett, I'm afraid I have to give up on Dustin.

Oh my god! I'm so stupid, why didn't I see it before? "End of the ROAD", it's the driving test. Forget what I said before, it's about Billy's driving test. Either he finally passes or he fails in an incredibly stupid way (again) and just gives up on the whole idea.

I'm late to the party, so there's not much left to say on this chapter. I agree, poor George. Having a sharp mind and your body suddenly not being able to keep up with your mind must be a terrible feeling. I just want to say, I love how everyone Billy is out to basically said "I know you're gay, Billy, you're super obvious about it", and Billy is shocked and surprised every time. What's it going to take for him to realise he's in a glass closet?

Wow, what a chapter! People are forgetting about the HOT sex! Dustin: I'm surprised at how mature Brett is being on this. I was expecting him to fight back, but I guess he's finally secure enough in his relationship with Billy. Also funny how the roles are reversed, with Billy now hating Dustin, and Brett defending him. As for Dustin himself, it looks like he finally snapped, and he's a violent, abusive asshole just like Frank. Of course, growing up in that family, he could only learn to cope with thing through violence, so that's not surprising. I think he forgot Billy was in the room near the end, with all the things he said. I think he regrets kicking Brett's ass the way he did, and he's going to be crushed when he realises he accidentally told Billy about the park, and that Billy finally turned on him. What I want to know is what's going on with Dustin physically. Is he just not eating and sleeping enough, or are those signs that he's taking hard drugs? I hope it's not the latter. Finally, based on his parting words to Brett, it sounds like he's going to try to kill himself, maybe after his last appeal to Billy falls on deaf ears. And of course, Brett would be the one who prevents him from succeeding. @Onim It's mentioned in the chapter that Billy tried to stop Dustin a few times, but he was just pushed away. But yeah, Billy's a coward, and he's probably going to just lash out at Dustin later, when he's already down. After what Dustin said, the title of the next chapter sounds ominous. But Jeff has a history of using misleading chapter previews. So I'm going to just say this now, I don't think it's about Dustin at all. If I had to guess, the title refers to Paula finding out about Billy, or something about Joey. Or, and I hope it's not that, it could also be the end of the road for George, considering his deteriorating health. EDIT: Now that I think about it, Dustin broke down after being hit with the skillet. Was it because he snapped out of his violent rampage and regrets what he's done, or because he realised that Billy saw the whole thing and that his outburst cost him the only thing he had left, Billy's friendship? I believe it's a little of both. I think Dustin's been clinging on to the hope that he could 'take Billy back' from Brett. What he just did destroyed any chance he had to win Billy's heart and Dustin knows it, so in his mind he has nothing left to live for.

I feel the same way. Having to wait another week for the next chapter is torture!! Sometimes I feel like I should just put this on hold until the book is complete, I can't stand all that waiting between chapters!

That's exactly what clued me in, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. As for Carol, I'm a bit hopeful, unless it's just her way of trying to keep the abuse within the family ("We're the only ones allowed to beat him up", that sort of thing). Then again, Dustin almost died, so maybe Frank crossed the line this time. Not to mention, the hospital will probably need to get the cops involved if they see signs of abuse.

Right, I remember something about them being cousins. Although I can't remember for sure what makes them cousins, or if it's just what Brett was told. Jack McKenzie sleeping around would fit with the whole 'phony' theme that family has going. And for the record, I still think his father is the boy 'Brett' in the picture, and that's who Jen named him after. Man, our Billy-boy is a real guy magnet if that's the case! I don't think that's it, though. Having every boy in Billy's life be secretly in love with him is a little far-fetched. Besides, if that was the case you'd think he would bully Brett instead (kind of like Dustin does), but he doesn't. Joey started his bullying once he suspected Billy is gay, so that fits with the religion thing. But I think he's really projecting his own issues. Let's say Joey is getting raped. He would naturally hate the person doing this to him, and he'd know through talking to Brett that Billy is the top in the relationship. So it's very likely that in Joey's mind, Billy is the same as his abuser, so he hates Billy. And while Joey can't retaliate against his abuser, he can take it out on Billy, so he does. It's a known fact that people who are being abused transfer that abuse onto other people, and I think that's what's happening here. Well, I'm not a psychologist or psychiatrist, so I don't really know what I'm talking about, but that would make sense to me.

Well, I can't really get angry at Joey for this one, Billy clearly provoked him. And it looks like there's something going on that we don't know about. Like @JayT said, I suspect abuse. I'm not sure about the church's layout, but my guess is the good Pastor has something to do with what's happening to Joey. It's him or Jack, and I think Jack plays a different role in the story. I think Jack McKenzie will be the key to finding Brett's mysterious father, if he's not Brett's father himself. I'm starting to think it's the latter, he shares some personality traits with Brett. But we'll see what turns up later. Well, so much for Billy's laptop... And I think it won't be long until Mike gets out of town, for his own safety. Dustin: I had a feeling Brett would find out about the park, but at least he did the right thing. We all knew from the blood that Dustin got raped, but this is worse than I thought. On the plus side, I'm glad to see Dustin's mom actually cares about her son and will protect him from now on. That gives me some hope that the abuse will stop. Dustin will be furious at Brett for telling, but I wonder what the main reason will be. For blowing up his family (and his imaginary family he created to cope with the abuse)? Or maybe for telling Billy about the park? He probably thinks Billy won't want anything to do with him once he finds out about his career, so he's likely to think Brett did it to turn Billy away from him. That can't be good, and Billy will really need to be there for him and to keep Brett and Dustin from killing each other. I really feel like this is Dustin's book, and I love it. Minor complaint, I'm a bit disappointed that Brett is also smoking cigarettes. I strongly dislike smoking of any kind and I wish the boys wouldn't do it, but whatever. I don't know how Billy can stand to kiss someone with disgusting cigarette breath, yuck! Before I forget. Fuck Frank Smith. Fuck him with his own dick. EDIT: Come to think of it, how did Frank know Dustin was at the park, anyway? Did he follow him, or is he friends with one of Dustin's 'clients'? I'd love to know how he found out.