Krista

I believe you. I think you may have behaved yourself with this chapter, I'm thinking. You've also been rather busy with other things, Frosted Hearts has probably had 3 'Monday' postings in the brand new year of 2026.

I see another paranoid chick-a-dee? Sorry about that.. lol.. I needed something that rhymed with "I see.." and that's the best I came up with on the fly.

I think most people are hoping he does... lol. I know it may feel like a bit of a portion of writing that came in quick and left in a bit of a whimper. I don't know, there's only one chapter left... I don't think there's much time for Jaxton to do much about Joel. At least in the writing. Maybe.

Maybe the girlfriend told him it was over, so it is over. The power of flowers and boobs can be rather powerful... And yes, I called it a flower. And, sometimes a horse-headbutt is just a horse-headbutt. Maybe I should've just skipped that entirely, Braden has a life outside of school. He's in the Western/Rodeo world that Colt/Trace/Lacey are in, accidents on horses happen, especially if hornets are involved. I don't get too twisty with things that should cause such paranoid thinking, do I?

Hold on now, hands on learning is important too. But yeah, he did get rather scolded by Reynart for his lack of structure, the poor thing. Lance was quite the talker. Maybe there's a lot of people that wanted/likes to see Jaxton get his dues a bit. Joel needs to watch out or he may be on the short-list for shit like Prom King in the coming months... if things don't die down or get overshadowed by some other small town scandals anyway. Jaxton's struggle to get Joel off him probably did look rather... for a lack of a better word 'sus' at times. Especially since Joel was sitting in a nearly perfect position for a nice ride... Oh goodness. *slaps own wrist* You may be asking too much. I gave you a wet and naked Colt. I don't know if I'm feeling motivated enough/pressured enough to give you naked wrestling in a locker room between "Rivals.." although, if you watched 'Heated Rivalry," and got over your fear of sports balls, you might get that out of your system a little bit. The next chapter is a rather large chapter... so there's that. May be too large, we'll see. I've not looked at it for over a week. I know I reread it, trimmed it down, and rewrote some shit that became dated and no longer made sense... the next chapter scares me. It scared me a lot.

Oh gosh, with him that's a slippery slope of a loaded question, I feel.

Yeah posturing is something that I think a lot of people coming out of high school live to regret... unless they still feel like what little they accomplished in high school still matters now they're well into adulthood. If you think your social standing in high school is more important than where you are ten years later, then ouch. Situationship! 😮 Davin and Joel felt that.

Maybe Joel stood up to him enough that Jaxton doesn't see any rewards for continuing their little dance... unless he can get something out of it. Or hopes to gain something out of it. The longer Joel is there though, the more people will get to know him for just being Joel. The baseball team, the Ames twins are high in the hierarchy, Faith, Sierra, Davin and Gavin... so he's not scraping the bottom of the silly and shallow world of High School dramatics. If anything Jaxton probably heard a lot of uproar about Joel coming to the school and felt threatened. If I had to guess.

I think Mr. Swindell is trying his best. Sometimes you just get a class of unmotivated people that don't want to do the homework as well. That's where my head was when I wrote that sentence though. He does seem checked out a little bit too, Swindell. In the bogged down world of teaching Math will probably do that to you... Even the nice math teachers aren't well liked based on the subject they happen to teach. Such is life. And yeah, poor Roy doesn't know that many people he could ask for help, unless he knows people in Tempton. Being Jonny's lapdog since he was a wee little brat probably didn't earn him a lot of friends that can do Calculus though. The two dumbasses can struggle on that boat together, I'm thinking. Lorianne may save them as I doubt the Kepler twins are sneaky math geniuses. I think 'most' people probably think Joel is either in the process of dating Lorianne, or they already are... doing things. Reputations and what have you. So, unless they catch him out with Lance, Roy, or Jeremiah they probably just think he's new and lost? I don't know... If that is the 100% designated gay table, then him staying at it after being there ages might get him noticed for that... you can be new and dumb, but you can't be not new and still dumb.

Off season practices were fun, if not a little brutal... But yeah, a lot more just overall bonding and nonsense too without the stress of being within the season itself.

Same, really... had a rough start to the week and didn't want to do anything at all... I don't think I even looked at the progress of this chapter until I posted it.

If you're not first, you're last.

Thank you for taking the time to read this story, and leaving a comment and review. Werewolves and/or just paranormal action isn't my comfort zone. This was a product of a rewrite and a partial DNF too. I was so concerned that it wouldn't read well with me cutting about twelve pages out of the writing. I felt bad for the way it ended, but I wanted to practice something new and the Prompt challenge is good for that, since I drew a theme I'm not too comfortable with as it was. I didn't want to get too bogged down into mostly "accepted and established" lore with them. Or character norms. Wanting to focus on attempting to flesh out two characters quickly. Parts of what I cut was my trying to establish lore then realizing I didn't need it with a one-shot story such at this.

“If Jax gives you any shit, call one of us,” Davin said as we stood in front of the Charger. People were filing out of their cars around us. I had my bag slung over my shoulder, my ball bag in the trunk waiting for me after school. The papers I printed out for Celia to sign in my hand ready to drop off at the front office to be filed, making me eligible to play the season for Fletcher. “I’ll be alright,” I said not looking in his direction as I stared up at the fucking ugly building. Ugly i

I, but instead of the party gear, a pillow and Pjs. I am going to be boring, completely boring.

And today, Steve learned that if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.

Still in the essence of fairness and not having awkward moments, since everyone will know Joel and Davin are in a romantic relationship. I'd think Trace and Celia would have to put their feet down and lay the ground rules and change sleeping arrangements. The dynamics of what they think is going on, isn't what is going on. So when that comes to light/if it ever were to, then I don't think they are the types of parents that can overlook romantic entanglements. And it still wouldn't be fair for Davin and Joel to be able to continue as they are, if/when found out. And, it be a non-starter for the others. It is much easier to have the same set of ground rules and expectations for every child, I'm thinking.

You would think the Birthday chapter would be next, wouldn't you? Hmm. I still think I have time for massive rewrites before Friday. It is coming, I promise. I mean it has to, surely. It is written at least. lol.

Oh yeah, they'll definitely try every sneaky sneaky thing they can come up with to see if it works or not, I'm sure.

Yes. Yes it did.

I wouldn't come to me for Sci-Fi either. Not even with a map and compass combo in hand. -- I let this topic sit for over twenty-four hours. The reason why I left it sitting is because, at word value it seemed like it was going to go the way of the handful of discussions that crop up here from time to time. I will say this: When you go into a restaurant and your steak is dry and you wish to complain and they send for the chef - and if that chef is female and your response is: Well that's why. You are the problem. Period. Attack the words written on the pages, not the name on the front cover. If the author sucks - to you/a reader, it is more than likely due to their storytelling and writing ability, choices in plot not being to your/the reader's taste, or a myriad of reasons other than whether or not the author has dangly bits between their legs. Race, religion, gender, age, background, lifestyle, tax bracket, etc needs to stay out of the discussion when you're/the reader making blanket all encompassing untrue statements such as that. There is no excuse for it, it is a weak argument made by self-serving people who just like to hear themselves talk down and express their own bias. It is 2025 - soon to be 2026. I'm over it. Do those things matter? They can. My background helps me paint convincing rural pictures. I am a former athlete so writing characters with athletic backgrounds is helped along by that as well. I'm female, so my female characters should read authentically. I work in the medical field, if I ever wished to write a character that is based generally within a few fields I could do it. All because those are lived experiences. We all have them. The rest can be overcome by research, the drive to be correct, editing, reading, putting words to paper over years to hone your writing in general so that all the writing you do comes out better for it. Being observant helps. I study trends in language, style, mannerisms, and how people relate to one another. If the entire first comment was left out of the discussion, then there wouldn't have been an issue. Reddit is a real bastion of common sense, decency, and data backed discussion as well, I put a lot of weight to the opinions I find on that platform. For sure. --- With that said, I genuinely don't think that was the true intention with the birth of this topic. So, although this whole ramble I've done will read rather blunt/pushy in tone, I am not placing blame or a heavy opinion on the original post, just the parroted comment made within it. Anyway, I am female. I've been writing M/M fiction since I was in my early teens back in the early 2000s. I write mostly coming of age Romances, they're slow-burn. Typically written in first person. I like rural settings and for my characters to have an athletic/athlete character/plot element to them. Not always, but most usually there is something there. I will dabble in fantasy, I think I've done it three times with very little success, as far as my opinion goes. Most of my stories have a coming of age element. A lot of them are in high school. I feel I'm too told to write such things now, as I have children who are currently in high school and they scare me, truly. So I will like to branch out to other themes and away from Coming of Age stories, but yes, it is what I'm known for as others have said. I recently dabbled in Werewolves, might do that again, who knows. I hear Demons are popular, I'm sure I can slow-burn romance the hell out of that genre if I put my mind to it. As far as being a reader here: I am an old-school sort of reader that broke myself in on CJames, Dom, Viv, Shadowgod, and others. One of my top stories that I've ever read here was written by @CassieQ. Generally though when I look for stories I wish to read stories similar to what I write myself. I am stuck in my ways. I don't care if they are in first or third. I like for a more slow paced story, or slow-burn set-up within the writing. I like character driven narratives for the most part as well. I made it a point recently to be more active as a reader here. I don't have a lot of time for reading, but I've been able to cross a few short stories off my to-read list and I'm following a few more highly entertaining stories. I want to do more. Maybe I'll take a tiny break from writing after my latest project has a complete tag next to it and focus on just being a reader for a bit. As a general member, I really can't say how I'm perceived mostly. I think it is a mix of blunt/unapologetic and playful/cheeky. I'll take that, probably as good as I can hope for really. Oh, can't believe I forgot this, but I've been told by a few people that I'm rather scary. I personally don't see it, but sometimes the cards just fall where they do.

Also, I didn't do this, because I too am suffering. This is @wildone's fault blowing all that arctic air down here instead of keeping it up there where it should be so he can suffer for his poor decisions. The windbag that he is.

I see it differently. There is no way they'd allow Faith and Sierra to stay overnight at their house. They most definitely wouldn't be allowing them to sleep in the same rooms/beds with Gavin and Colt. So, for them to find out about Davin and Joel, if anything, out of fairness to everyone else in the house, even Lacey whenever she gets to that age and future expectations they can't allow Davin and Joel. Ground rules and expectations, discussions, and changes would be made. Joel is a special circumstance, teenage hormones though is rather universal between the four of them... and if they're going to handle heterosexual hormones one way and homosexual hormones another, then that's not fair.

Yeah, when the decision was made to stick with Davin I changed Roy's character a bit. Made him more aware of the opposite sex instead of trying to create a lot more chemistry between Joel and Roy. I can't do that now, but in the early writing with me on the fence, Roy was the second option. But now I think I've made Roy distinctly straight. Jeremiah could be a silent sneak option still. But yeah, not gonna do it either way, Davin - Javin, is safe. I'll have more opportunities in my writing to depict first loves falling apart...