Shadow086

What does Joey really have to lose by going after Billy now? Billy threatening to do what he did might have forced them into a stalemate, and Joey would've kept his mouth shut then. But then Billy went and stupidly played his hand (even though I'm glad he did it, it was still stupid), so now Billy has no leverage to use against Joey. So now there are two things to consider: Joey's going to want revenge on Billy for ruining his reputation He's going to see Billy not as someone who's beneath him, but as someone important enough to be worth destroying. And that's exactly what Joey's going to do. But he won't do it on impulse like Billy did. He's probably going to plan this out and try to humiliate Billy in front of the entire school. People like Joey who think they're better than everyone don't get humbled that easily, he's not going down without dragging Billy along with him.

Joey of course, hahaha. Billy has many flaws, but he's not a self-righteous hypocrite. I've never seen Billy lash out at someone for no reason, it was always because someone he cared about was being attacked. I actually feel bad for Brett because he'll be the one cleaning up Billy's mess after Joey starts acting on his threats. Seriously, fuck this guy...

Here's the thing with hypocrites like Joey: very few people get to see them for what they truly are, and those that do usually end up becoming their enemies. And remember that until now Billy thought Joey was just bullying him for no reason. Now at least he knows why Joey hates him so much (I think it's stupid and petty and none of Joey's business in the first place), but by this point there's no chance of mending this relationship, so you can't expect much more from Billy than what he did. As for the responses he got, it's a different story. Aside from Paula, who's still hanging on to her 'The McKenzies are awesome and perfect' delusions, everyone seemed to tell him "that was stupid, it's gonna come back to bite you in the ass later", not that he was wrong on what he did. They just think the way he did it was stupid, but Billy does stupid things when he's angry. And he just made some powerful enemies. Funny how Paula was fine with people spreading rumours about Dustin being a thug and a whore, but when her son tells the truth about perfect golden boy Joey McKenzie, she starts going on about not trying to damage peoples' reputations. The pastor can have her, she belongs with scum like him.

Come to think of it, aren't Joey and Brett cousins? If so, Joey's probably trying to make sure that whatever's going on to 'ruin' Brett's reputation (because turning him into a stoner didn't, right?) doesn't affect his own by association. I have no sympathy for him or his problems, he had it coming. You can't keep using your influence and reputation to bully and insult people, then not expect them to fight back at some point. Talking about George dying like it was a good thing really crossed the line. Yes, Billy has a temper, yes, what he did was against his self-interest, and yes, Billy's going to deeply regret it later, but you have to give him credit. Billy knows how to hit where it hurts the most. All Joey cares about is his reputation as the golden angel and a fine upstanding member of the community, and Billy just destroyed that in one sentence. Now the rumours will spread and Joey won't be in a position to be so sanctimonious and moralising, which is a good thing. I can already see how this could play out. They'll try to deny it, then Joey will expose Billy's secrets and say Billy's smearing him because he's jealous of how nice and wonderful and successful Joey is, while he's just a nobody faggot loser. And of course, because of how this town is, the people will keep their blinders on and accept the McKenzies' version instead of accepting the truth, and Billy will be ostracised. So will Paula, which will make her even angrier with him, because she thinks like one of them, and potentially destroy whatever's left of their relationship.

Another good chapter, but you know how I'm going to react to this one, right? Just when I was starting to not hate him as much, too...

Fuck Joey McKenzie, and fuck Paula for taking his side. I get so pissed off whenever one of these sanctimonious assholes starts talking about 'reputation'. I just tune them out because that's a sign of someone who's more concerned with keeping their reputation than earning it. Billy did the right thing in calling out their bullshit, and Joey deserved every bit of what's coming to him. Now his precious Golden Boy reputation is ruined. I'm glad Brett called him out on it, though, but I hope Brett will take Billy's side against Joey. If Billy was smart, he'd come out right now, that way Joey wouldn't really have anything big to use against him. Billy can't be stupid enough to think Joey's not going to out him in revenge (oh wait, he is that stupid), so he should just do it himself and stay one step ahead. The Locked-Down Unit: I think it's pretty obvious that Billy's getting grounded after this, and Fuckface McAsshole will use that time to try to turn Brett against him.

I hope the video will be enough proof to make sure those lawyers can't get Chris to walk away from this unpunished. Although I don't know how much harm Chris could really do if everybody knows what he did and he just got away on a technicality. Two things come to mind: 1. Will Declan stays at Bailey's house for longer than he was allowed to, or will he go back to school satisfied that Bailey's okay and at least still talking to him? And if he does go back to school, what sort of chaos will he find once he gets there? 2. Like @droughtquake said, how long until he figures out the cuts? It's probably going to stay in the back of his mind for a little bit until he has time to settle down and think about it some more. It's going to be bugging him the way the lines are too clean, and maybe too recent to be caused by Chris. And he did sort of notice Bailey picking at the last cut on his hip, so once he starts putting the pieces together he's going to figures out there's something going on. I bet he won't let Bailey get away without giving him an answer.

That's why I sometimes think this is really Dustin's story told through Billy's eyes. Most of what's happened so far has revolved around Dustin in one way or another. As for the next chapter; Billy tends to spill a lot of secrets when he gets angry, and there's not doubt he'll get angry in the morning when she starts to nag him about going to church. The argument will probably starts when Billy asks to go see Dustin at the hospital instead of going to church.

We know how Paula's going to react, and George will probably try to be a calming influence. But I don't think the Pastor and Joey will even get involved, the explosion will happen before then. For the record, I don't think Jen thinks it was a lube stain in Brett's boxers... But I don't think she really minds either way.

Great, I've been looking forward to seeing more of this story. Phillip was a bit obvious about his little crush on Franklyn, but he didn't seem to mind. I'm looking forward to seeing if he's just making fun of Phillip or if there's something more to it. I'd love to see Buster's reaction if Phillip suddenly started being friendly with the hottest boy in school. I'm definitely curious about what's on Jamie's mind at the end of the chapter. It sounds like Jamie thinks Billy can't be gay because he's a cool guy, but does that mean he doesn't like gay people after all? I think he's just saying that Billy doesn't look gay. I get that Jamie wants to protect his brother from the hell of being a gay kid in high school, but he can be so oblivious to how much his words are hurting Phillip. They really need to talk this out.

@jkwsquirrel can we have the next chapter tonight, please? Seriously though, it's getting harder and harder to wait a whole week for the next chapter. Part of me to read this again from Book 1, but parts of it are hard to read (mostly the ones about Dustin) so I'm not decided yet. Congratulations on crafting such a wonderful story.

I had a feeling it would end up like this. I'm just glad he survived. I loved Billy in this chapter. He didn't freak out, didn't hesitate like he usually does, he just took control of the situation and saved Dustin's life. It's a bit of a shame that it took something so drastic for Billy to finally act like the responsible adult he always claims to be. Hopefully this isn't just a fluke and we won't see him go back to the old cowardly Billy any time soon. What happens from here? Brett's mother probably knows about them now, but I don't think she really care at the moment. And I don't think the two scumbags will let Dustin stay in the hospital for months. They probably wouldn't want to 'waste' all that money on him, even if they could afford it. Someone else is going to have to step in, maybe Miss Winston. One thing's for sure, they absolutely cannot let Dustin go back to that house. Dustin is going to need a lot of counseling. Will he become one of the 'freaks'? Nuclear option? I hope this is about finally getting rid of the Smiths, but I doubt it. That's for Dustin to do once he recovers enough. The one thing that comes to my mind is this: the boys stayed at Billy's house, and they slept close to each other. And now it's Sunday. Paula is bound to try to drag Billy to church, and that's a terrible idea in his current state of mind. I'm thinking she might also make a judgemental comment about Dustin, and that will NOT go over well with Billy. I wouldn't be surprised if the next chapter involved Billy outing himself to his mother in a fit of rage over church and Dustin. It's a shame sometimes that Dustin isn't there to see how much Billy truly cares for him. It might have helped avoid this whole mess. Great job, @jkwsquirrel, it's gonna be tough to wait a whole week for the next chapter.

There are so many bad churches like that, it can become difficult not to think all churches are like that. But this shows the importance of questioning religious leaders. I'm sure there are some bad people in the congregation, but there are also a lot of people like Paula who just want to do good things and help people, but end up doing more harm because of their blind trust in the church leaders. This should usually end in Pastor Carl being exposed for the fraud he is and cast out of the congregation by the 'forces of good'. And as for Paula and Billy, I think the wedge has already been driven pretty deep. Billy appears to have grown disillusioned with religion, and I don't think Paula's prepared to acknowledge or accept that.

Actually, please DO let it be AJ. I want to see Billy wipe that smug smile off AJ's face for good. For the record, though, I think he's spending time with Stevie so he doesn't become a shut-in. But AJ's probably that other guy Brandon mentioned a while back.

Isn't Jimmy still in the hospital? But yeah, that's absolutely the kind of thing he'd do. He'll probably break Billy's windows next.

Religion gives the wrong answer, usually something along the lines of "this is punishment for the sins you committed, now the congregation will judge you." In the area where I live, my grandparent's generation abandoned the church en masse, so my parents grew up without going to church, and neither did I, obviously. So the whole concept of Sunday school and going to church every Sunday is completely foreign to me, and I don't understand it at all. We only go to church for baptisms and funerals, really.

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.