Shadow086

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.

That's because it's the only head of his that actually works. Stupid prick, fuck him. I don't really care about Frank Smith, to be honest. He's an abusive asshole and everybody knows it, so I'm strangely not as pissed off about him as most readers. Dustin's situation is more of a 'group effort', so I'm actually more angry at his wife and Amanda for not doing anything to help Dusty and joining in the abuse. As for Fuckhead McKenzie, I truly despise those sanctimonious, moralising hypocrites, so I hated him since they first started talking about what a perfect boy he is. I think that might be as far back as book 2, because I knew he'd turn out like this. I wish him a happy life filled with many romantic nights in the loving company of his right hand.

That has me worried, especially if you mean D&BR not being at each other's throats. The only way I can see that happening is if something terrible were to happen to Billy, and that would not be good for any of the boys. The story also seems to be taking a dark turn, which means what I'm afraid of becomes a possibility. So true on that last part. Part of me wants to say that every time he's mentioned, but that would get old and annoying very fast. Doesn't mean I'm not thinking it though. And if he ever does something to Billy I won't stop at just that. It was hard for me to stay mad at Dustin in Rehabilitation, but I have no sympathy for Golden Boy and Paula, so there's no regrets and no holding back. I doubt you'll find many people defending those two like they did with Dustin.

I've always thought that was because of the stupid bullshit his "father" put in his head. If you spent fifteen years being told that you're worthless trash and need everyone to save your weak ass, you're more likely to want to prove them wrong and refuse other's offers for help. And as Jeff said, he's loyal to a fault, so he'll defend his family no matter how badly they treat him. He wants help, but for the above reasons he's too proud to ask for it. Billy caught on to that last chapter when he said Dustin seemed to want them to just take him back to their house. I completely agree and can't stand people who just want you to feel sorry for them, but I don't think that's the case with Dustin.

Looks like Brett slipped back to his old ways. That's too bad. But he's probably justified in this case. Brett's mom has known for a long time, but she has her reasons for not saying anything. My feeling is she can tell Billy isn't comfortable with being out so she doesn't want to embarrass him or scare him. That was way too close for her not to figure out or at least suspect what's going on. And, of course, she's okay with it. I wonder if Billy thought this through at the time, but the laptop gives him the perfect excuse to talk to Mike and find out what happened. And he gets a new laptop out of the deal (which Miss Bible will probably try to take away from him). So Dustin started smoking too. Please get him some help soon, I can't stand seeing him like this. Wonder what Brett's deal is, looks like he's hiding something again. The title of the next chapter sounds ominous. If I had to speculate, I'd say that the "Hero" is either Brett or Dustin (hoping for Dusty) who saves Billy from being assaulted or even raped by that dickhead Joey McKenzie and his lackeys. I don't know if it'll be this soon, but I'm sure they'll try to rape Billy at some point. I'm not going to say it, but it's pretty clear how I feel about Joey McKenzie, and I'll probably say it every time he shows up. I notice that chapters about Dustin always get the most discussion by far. I think the readers have really grown attached to our Dusty and want him to get a better life.

I totally agree 100% about Billy's mother. If Billy was smart he'd try to explain hanging out with Dustin by using a Bible approach. Forgiveness and second chances and helping those in need, that sort of thing. And if she still won't budge, then he can expose her as the hypocrite she is. Billy's the one acting by Christian values in that situation. As for Billy, it's getting a bit frustrating to see him making the same mistakes over and over again. He wants to help but doesn't know how or where to start, so as usual, instead of going to his father or another adult for advice, he'll just sit there and do nothing while moping about how powerless he is. He already started, but I think anything he does right now will only make things worse.

Billy knows this, but Dustin keeps saying he doesn't want him there, and Billy respects that. What Billy needs to do is grow a pair and say "I'm getting you help whether you like it or not." It's a delicate situation because we might be wrong about the abuse (though I highly doubt we are). Billy needs to talk to Mike to find out more about what happened, and he also needs to tell his mother about Dustin's condition. If he charges in there without confirming what we all think is happening, Billy will only end up making things infinitely worse for Dustin. Now is a time for caution. I think Dustin is going to try to kill himself but Billy o r someone else will be able to prevent him from succeeding. That will be Billy's wake up call and he'll be there for Dustin after that. I'm starting to think that Amanda was protecting him from their parents' abuse, and things went downhill when she left. Edit: You know what Billy's problem is? He doesn't rely on others. He always tries to fix everything himself, and when it gets to be too much for him to handle he just walks away and stays silent. How many situations did he get involved in that wouldn't have ended this badly if he just spoke up? He just never learns that lesson and you can tell he's about to do the same thing again.

Yeah it does. Paula seems to think everyone except that dickhead Joey McKenzie is a bad influence. That's what pisses me off about her right now.

I didn't think of that, but it doesn't explain why Billy can't even talk to Brett over the phone. My guess is Paula told her to keep Brett away from her son so he doesn't get influenced by Brett's bad behaviour.

First of all, fuck off, Paula. I can't stand people like her. Maybe she should start paying more attention to what her son thinks of her before Billy starts hating her for being an overbearing bitch. And maybe someone should temind her that Jesus was all about love, forgiveness and giving a second chance, so Billy is actually much more Christian than she is in regards to Dustin. Speaking of Dustin, I think @droughtquake hit it right on the head. At first I thought he was doing hard drugs, but the blood on the toilet seat screams 'rape'. My guess is it started after the car incident, though, because that's when he started acting differently. His family probably found out about the park and started abusing him. I really think Dustin's at his limit and Billy needs to talk to Mike or do something before it's too late. Jeff, I kinda hate you for doing this to our Dusty. Does anyone else think it's weird that Brett suddenly has this mysterious flu? I have a feeling Dr. Reilly is keeping them apart, maybe she even sent Brett away. I'm starting to think both moms know about their relationship and are trying to break them up. That would explain why Paula became such a bitch lately. Oh, and fuck Joey McKenzie.

I don't think Declan's friends will be a problem either, and I wouldn't be surprised if they did notify the police. Coach Reed pretty much said last chapter that Chris won't be captain, and he'll probably get kicked off the team too. He's absolutely going to try to get revenge on Bailey, and Declan too once he sees the video. Being sent to live far away will make no difference, Chris can get around like you said. And Bailey also leaves the school to go to gymnastics meets, maybe one of them would be around where Chris lives. I wouldn't be surprised if Chris and Eric had informants in the school to tell them Where Bailey's going so they can ambush him.

It's too bad Declan had to chicken out again, but he did the right thing and now they have proof, so Chris and Eric are toast. I think it's interesting that Bailey doesn't seem to be angry at Declan for telling the dean, but rather because he didn't warn him. I'm sure he's going to be pissed off at him for a while, but at the same time it shows him that Declan isn't like the Pitbulls, and this school is different from his previous one. Of course, Bailey doesn't know the football team was already splitting into two factions before Declan told, so he's going to assume that whatever is about to happen is because Declan spoke up. Now, how many people will see Chris and Eric being escorted to the headmaster's office? Enough for word to get back to the football team, then anyone who saw the second video will know what it's about and the coach will have a tough time uniting them again. This also means Justin will find out what really happened that Friday and he's going to be seriously pissed. Once Justin finds out, it's going to get really ugly. The other thing Declan forgot is that Bailey lives off-campus. If Chris and Eric get expelled (and I'm pretty sure they will), they're going to want revenge. They'll probably attack Bailey on his way home from school, and Bailey will still be mad at Declan, so he won't let Declan walk home with him for a while. If Declan's smart enough, he'll try to convince Bailey to move in the dorms, for his own safety.

I knew he still had the video! It would've been too convenient for Chris if Declan had actually managed to delete the video. This is great news. I have my popcorn ready, because things are about to get very interesting. I thought Declan would just tell his coach, but this is even better. There's no way Chris is getting out of this one, especially once Declan gives the video to the dean. I think the football team will be okay overall with Declan's decision since a lot of them don't like Chris either, but I'm worried about Bailey. Bailey finally got the courage to open up to someone, and I'm pretty sure he likes Declan back, but how will he react to this? I'm sure he'll be fine with it later on, but there's a good chance he'll see this as a betrayal and won't trust Declan anymore. I just hope he doesn't shut Declan out completely and gives him a chance to explain himself. The other thing is, the dean might want to get the nurses to look at Bailey's bruises for evidence. And if that happens, they'll see it as well, and Bailey won't be happy about that at all.

I failed mine because the guy said I was driving too slow, and I only did that because I wanted to make sure to stay under the speed limit. I find that the good Christian people are generally the ones that aren't always bragging about what good Christians they are. That's also true for many other things. Dusty: I just hate it when bad things keep happening to people I care about. He really deserves better. He has a bright and promising future ahead of him and he's throwing it all away because he lives with a bunch of despicable human beings. It really breaks my heart to see it and I hope we've hit rock-bottom with him, I don't think I could stand watching him suffer any more than this.

Ouch, what a way to not get your license! I feel bad for Billy. Billy's absolutely right about Joey being a two-faced asshole, a lot of 'good Christians' are, unfortunately. And I've already gone over my feelings on Paula in the forums so I won't talk about that. If she knew about Brett they'd never be allowed to see each other. Dustin: The boy really deserves a break. There's more to the story than him just stealing Mike's car, I'm sure of it. I think he just gave up and stealing Mike's car was a cry for help. Now he's ruined things with Mike, pushed everyone away and gets beaten regularly at home, he's withdrawn and probably doing drugs it's not looking good. I'm going to come right out and say it, I think Dustin's suicidal at this point. I always liked Dustin and thought he deserved better, and seeing him so broken...I'm not sure I want to keep reading anymore. And things are only going to get worse.

Oh, absolutely. Michell failed Bailey repeatedly and still is if she can't see he's not ready to have another father figure in his life. I wanted to point out that Bailey isn't without fault either. And if at this point Michell got herself together enough to try and reach out to Bailey and he isn't letting her, then the problem falls partly on him. The thing is she may not have known since Bailey internalised everything and gave the impression that he was handling things well when we know for a fact that he didn't. I think Declan helped him open up enough that he can start telling Michelle how he feels, and Michelle is getting back into a mental state where she can actually listen to him. I think the problem is they were both too busy being in their own bubble of grief and sadness to be there for each other.

I'm starting to think Bailey's a bit at fault with the whole Daniel thing. Daniel is starting to look like a decent guy, and while there's something a bit unethical about entering a relationship with one of his current/former clients, it really seems like he means well. I see this as being part of a larger problem with Bailey. Bailey practically locked himself away in his own little world of grief and is just shutting out everybody else to the point where he doesn't know what's going on anymore. I get where that he's hurt but he needs to let his mother move on if she's ready to. Honestly they're both at fault because neither of them did anything to reach out to and support each other, but Bailey needs to be dragged off the self-destructive path he's on. It's distressing that he had to resort to it again, but it looks like Declan's starting to catch on, which is a good thing. And, like @Hunter Thomson said, Declan will jump to the wrong conclusions and blame Chris, which should make the next few days very interesting. I think the issue with Bailey is that there was no one there for him when he needed it most, so he kept all his feelings bottled up inside. Now it looks like Declan might be that rock for him, and he's slowly breaking down the barriers. I hope Bailey can see that having someone there to comfort him like his mother had Daniel is a much better way to cope with his grief than self harm.

Uncle Martin gives the first hint that this relationship won't end well. I wonder what he meant by that exactly. I don't see Ryder leaving Teddy behind just because he got famous. The lacrosse match was interesting. Teddy's definitely starting to rock the boat, let's wait and see how that turns out. The thing is, people are going to start wondering why Teddy suddenly started sticking up for Ryder and they're going to figure it out eventually. It's bound to knock Teddy down the social ladder a little bit, but he shouldn't care too much about that by that point. It's obvious that Ryder wrote a song for Teddy, I just hope nothing goes wrong and he makes it there on Friday. It just feels like Teddy's gonna run into a situation that's out of his control and he won't be able to make it to the concert, breaking Ryder's trust in the process. I really hope that's not the case.

I love how supportive Teddy's parents are. Ryder is like an onion and every chapter we peel off another layer or two and find out more about the person underneath. I'm really enjoying that. I love how passionate Ryder is when it comes to his music, and I get the feeling he'll make it big at some point. I wonder what happened to Ryder's parents and how that relates to his mental illness. With a family like that, it's no wonder Teddy is so outgoing. I'm really enjoying the little dance between Teddy and Ryder as they get to know each other.

I wonder who Ryder was referring to when he talked about mental illness. I'm thinking it might be his grandmother. I also love how Teddy gently pokes Ryder to open up without putting any pressure on him. One question that came to my mind is why things didn't work out with Teddy's previous boyfriends. Was it because he likes to be challenged or because Teddy realised they were just as fake as he is and only wanted to be seen with Teddy Haner? I wish Teddy stopped being so concerned about his popularity. That's a part of high school I could've done without.

I just love Teddy's parents, especially his dad. I can see where Teddy gets his personality from. It was nice to see Teddy and Ryder clear up the misunderstanding and start to know each other better. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up dating. It feels to me that Ryder has feelings for Teddy and really wants to trust him. That's why he got the courage to actually go to his house and talk thing out. Of course, it could also be that Ryder's just looking for a friend and there's no romantic interest between them. The next few chapters should be interesting, as we watch their friendship develop.

I don't get what's so fun about getting so drunk you spend the next day feeling like shit. If you need to get drunk to have a good time, then you're doing something wrong, in my opinion. Wow, Mike is an idiot. The more I see him the less I like him. It looks like Teddy's starting to figure out that having a few good friends is better than being Mr. Popular, I'm glad about that. Looks like Ryder was born to perform, he really knows how to work a crowd. Of course I can see how everything may seem like a big set-up for Ryder. Hopefully Teddy can show him he's for real. I think part of what draws Teddy to Ryder is that Ryder isn't fake like everyone else. He doesn't try to be someone else just to fit in.

Now I can see why Declan's friends didn't give up on him when he was going along with Chris's bullshit. I bet Declan loved that practice. Who here thinks Chris learned his lesson? I think it's obvious that the football team is splitting into two camps, and it's only a matter of time before we see open dissent against Chris. He's probably planning something incredibly stupid right now. I loved seeing Bailey open up like that, it's exactly what he needs to start his healing process. And Declan looks like he really cares and listens to him because he's interested. It's too bad their 'date' got interrupted, but it also showed more of Declan's caring and protective side. I think they'd make a great couple. I think Declan handled the situation well, actually. Instead of drawing attention to Bailey's discomfort and making the guys ask questions, he tried to make Bailey feel less trapped and made an excuse for them to leave when he saw that it wasn't working. Like other, I wonder how Declan will react to it. Hopefully Bailey stops before Declan has a chance to find out. I also wonder how far they can take this 'friendship' before other people start catching on. My guess is Justin will be the first to figure it out.