Krista

Friday night football was big for me. Nothing else to do on a Friday evening and at least with me, everyone in my "circle" of closer friends would be there anyway. The game is a backdrop to everything else... gossip, parting planning, grudges/fighting, etc. You never knew what was going to happen, except one team on the field was going to win. With my school it was usually the visiting team that did, but meh...

Good and sound advice. I don't think Celia would accept another round of busted knuckles. She might have to start enforcing curfews to keep them all out of trouble. 😮 😮

Yeah, there's probably a lot of them walking around that could wear that hat, to be fair.

What are the chances that Jaxton just ignores Joel and they all have a great time at the party? If you were to bet the odds...

I don't think a few weeks in is going to stop eighteen years of pure (silly?) rivalry hatred. The Football team hasn't shown him any kindness either. So, why wouldn't Joel secretly want to see them battered up and the scoreboard lopsided in Tempton's favor? Maybe if Jaxton and his dumbass lackies were nicer to him, he'd maybe want the score a little closer... but I highly doubt he'll want to see Tempton beaten that night. His competitive streak in baseball though, that's a different story. Unless the team ends up being assy to him too, but at least Chase, the one teammate they met was thrilled about the idea and he already has Davin and Gavin in his corner. But yeah, Joel still bleeds orange and black. He was just too scared to be himself at Tempton, but he never blamed the people there. It was his parents and Wesley that caused him to land at Fletcher County, it wasn't anyone at Tempton High.

Colt reminds me of a cat. Affectionate for five minutes and then they're chewing on the very hand they were nuzzling against wanting pets. He can be kind and good, I think deep down he is that. But he can be a bit assy. Sassy? He has a weight on his own shoulders though... and weight is hard to carry.

This is the first chapter of the "new writing.." so I'm glad. I was nervous about the new writing, as it wasn't in the original and it is already making me edit the 'final' chapter. I've already had to cut four large paragraphs. I may end up having to cut more, we'll see. But since it is the first of the new writing to be posted, it kind of cements the rest of them to follow as well. Which means I have to get back to writing. I know the interactions of just the guys was something that people wanted to see more of. I wanted to see more of it too. Joel was so turned inward that he couldn't allow himself the freedoms. Then Colt hasn't been all that willing either. Gavin comes and goes as he pleases mostly. Then Davin is seemingly trying to have a good year, a little bit unexpected for him too. and yeah, Jaxton has been slighted twice, hasn't he?

All the guys I know were rough and tumble types... they were always grabbing, groping, random piggy-backs, and all that. Making kissy faces... I found it hilarious really. So I tend to write characters of that nature to support the main themes.. I think I always have a character like Gavin represented in the story. It's just in this one, he's been a bit absent. The playful kiss, I had to toss in there, I think he would've done it. Davin and Joel are becoming a little bit more comfortable.

I liked writing the Gavin that showed up in this chapter. He's been there more or less, we just didn't get to see it because you know.. girls and such. Sigh. But when Faith is busy, we get to see Gavin.

Shut your face.

Breaking the kiss, I was about to go in for another when a loud pounding shook the bedroom yes,door. Davin jumped away from me as the doorknob rattled before the door glided open. Seeing Gavin standing there, his shirt off hanging over his left shoulder, he cocked an eyebrow, but smiled as he walked in. “Like what you’ve done with the place,” Gavin said as he pulled his shirt off his shoulder and rolled it up to swat in Davin’s direction. “Thanks,” I offered as the shirt snapped, but m

I see Jackson making the attempt, he'd just mess it up and end up in a full body cast, for which he'd complain but still think he's hot and has the perfect ass.

Well you've sold me on the original and your fanfiction all in one go.

Okay, I'm calmer now. I am not prone to hysterics I assure you. I may have gasped at the recap of all their after graduation outcomes. The mere thought of them breaking a tradition right out of high school did sting a little. I know they have their own lives and they can easily come back together as a force of nature sort of group. I mean, they've all kind of paired off as it is, so they're... there.. they're just not all trapped for 25 days in a cottage together. I doubt the Cottage would survive that, to be fair it may not survive these two, 25 days is a bit. So.. I'll try to remain calm, for now. But any hint of true and indefinite splintering and I'll have to get creative and think of something you may need threatened with. The good @drsawzall took one of my suggestions. 25 Day To Do List: Clean Trash everything due to excess drinking and boredom Clean again Make the repairs that were promised and the new ones suggestion 2 may have caused. Clean up after those repairs. Perfect the art of writing your names in the snow. May require a lot of liquid consumption so, bonus points for cursive, because no one does that anymore. Drink a lot of liquor, water, and/or other drinks of choice. Make some new friends. Apparently there's shenanigans planned that may or may not be called 'gay chicken' Have a few free resort/out of Cottage days... that may or may not lead to frigid not really suited for outdoor stuff, but it's fiction so do it anyway. And there you have it. I'm a tiny bit helpful. Although I'm joking. I wouldn't know. It took me nearly 500k words to get through a year. It will take me over 300k words to get through... like a month and a half. 25 days would terrify me if I wasn't the queen of slow-pacing a story on life support.

I wasn't attempting to give a bad rep on poor Timothy's shoulders. Although I don't condone outing someone, which he didn't - in a way. He kept his mouth shut and let Jason's reaction to the gift do that for him. So, at most he was the orchestrator, but Jason could have played right into the joke and no one would've been the wiser. The shenanigans of Percy and Five helped settled everyone's nerves, even Jason's in that moment. Even though... they are now on my naughty list for reasons best discussed there. The way Timothy read to me in that moment was someone that knows X - information + Y - Information could = XY doing dirty things to one another. And since he knew. He decided to create a "perfect environment" for his plan to survive in. If anything Owen was a wrench in that plan, one that he wouldn't have liked. And to be fair, it seemed like everyone in their friend group knew about Jason, except for Jason. The only secret that was trying to be kept, was the one to himself. Which is where I'm borderline even hinting that I think Timothy's plan was a miss. But as I see it, the friend group was so grounded in open discussions and a strong foundation that it wasn't a massive mess. As for Owen, although on my list I have other priorities. Like the steps one would need to take to have travel passports or reservations in Ibiza suddenly cancelled. And how to make a Yacht malfunction, but not go boom... also for reasons. Eggnog sneaks up on the best of us. But it is terrible to get snockered off your ass on. I don't feel sorry for you, but I do feel sorry for your tummy after all that.

In your preview, you do third well. It doesn't read clunky, it flows, and I kept track of the narrative and speaker. Which are my bigger fears when I write third. Making it a cluster eff of narration and speakers that people won't be able to tell the difference. You say this is a fanfic/Fantasy story? What is it based around?

and sometimes when I read my very long and eloquent word vomit, I cock my head to the side and think: "What the hell even is this?" But you know, I've been accused of waking up perfect. The rule you're living by, above 85% is something I've forced myself to adopt. It allows commitment to posting without the stress of being committed to posting. I'll not go back to a different schedule. As much as I fret over the writing by being so deep into the project, it is better for all involved. New projects is something that I miss. I've been unable to poke at new for such a long time, I'm starting to worry if I'm not finished for a bit and hoping it comes back.

You mean to tell me that these two hooligans LIED TO US! They lied to us. Shame on them. I am disgusted. And then you break my heart over and over again. I just met these people... and they're all living wrong. Correct their behavior, or I will. Yachts are for old boring people that want to spend all their time with their families. Ibiza isn't going anywhere either... probably. These guys are still young and in college. They could still have that lifelong bond I wanted them to have... No mention of the beautiful Mary either. Money well spent on that bracelet, Timothy? And of course Jason picked the wrong dude. Must be a trait all Jasons share at lease once or twice in their lifetimes with this whole Jolt nonsense. I knew what Owen was all about, it took me two paragraphs. They should have done another booze induced intervention. Second-hand smoke kills, it does every day. Now that you've stabbed me in my chest and twisted the knife. I'll get to the meat of this story. So splintered as they are as a friend group, at least Five and Percy have stayed best friends. It takes a best friend to leave their life to come all the way up a mountain during a full-blown asshole-puckering blizzard. And, that's after a hellish flight. No way in hell, and to be live-in caretakers for twenty-five days? I'd be stir crazy. There is a nice ease and bond to them now. They have accepted one another their entire lives as they are. It is a calm and collected dynamic, despite their more chaotic higher energy sort of companionship they seem to bring out of one another. We'll see if this dynamic changes with them and how. They've proven they're willing to risk life and limb for one another. And they save two lives on top of that, trying to kill themselves, but heroes they are. I don't know if Mario and the sister will come back into the story or not. It may take a bit of time to mend the bones, ribs, and whatever else Mario had going on with him after his fall off the whole mountain. The action of the chapter was a lot, a lot of physics, a lot of tension, and it was nicely written. I am interested to know how much Percy has changed after high school as well.

Okay, the start of the story was so festive, tame, and endearing. Jason meets his best friend's parents, he takes a peek at a guy's butt. He's flirted with, has some small panic, but enjoys the smell of chicken. Then in the clubhouse it all falls to complete chaotic energy that as I pictured it, I wouldn't know where my attention was supposed to go. Which made the reading fun. Owen, fine he's the very outward confident gay person that knows who he is and that he's hot enough for people to care who he is. To me, he'd be better suited for a fling. So, I'm hoping Jason keeps the number, but guards everything else. We don't know Owen though, Owen may be able to kick the nicotine habit and show himself to be a little deeper than sex and flirtations. Owen can stay where he is. Cooking delicious chickens and being a flirt. I'm far more interested in seeing how Jason navigates the chaos of all of the information given him. He has a long drive to process everything. A lot of questions that may be answered, or already were... but who the hell can leave it at... "I didn't think my asshole could be gay..." in the middle of the rest of the non-filtered intoxicated bombardment of confessions. But in the middle of all of that - Jason still was able to piece together who bought him the secret santa. Timothy is a cheater at his own game. He went into a lot of effort for the night to go the way that it did. He did it because he knew Jason... maybe not that he was struggling with his sexuality, not until the iPad. But he knew Jason wasn't going to approach the subject without prodding. And since the other friend Stephen seemed equally against any prodding (whilst the other two seem very well versed in prodding), then he stepped in and turned a snow ball into an avalanche. Was he out of line? Possibly. Did he have good intentions with both his friends in mind, yes. So I can forgive him, they did, their lifelong bonds are built on a firm foundation. At least I hope so, when you enter in sex with feelings, then that might be more than they can handle. The banter was fresh and hilarious. I want to know the fallout from this evening, because there's going to be some aftershocks. This read so nicely for me as well. A group of friends at the age where they're burdened by things, but one of them isn't being completely adult. There's a sense of frozen time in the writing. It made them seem lighter. I liked it.

I liked it for what it was. I do want a season two, but with the announcement of the war, I may not. I'd like to know what happened with the platoon leader though. I didn't recognize Miles until much farther into episode one, thinking I should know who he was. Then it hit me it was the guy from Love, Simon. I didn't watch Thirteen Reasons Why.

That would be an interesting turn of events. Banging his noggin, or even wrecking his truck and his coma dream just had him stepping out onto the bridge.. and here we are. Food for thought. I've already added close to 40k in new writing, what's a bit more.. Tying my shoe laces together would get me, mind you. Back when I bothered with laces, I kept them so loosely laced that I didn't really need to tie them. I wouldn't have felt the tension on the laces until I toppled over. Of course, if that were to happen I'd have to retaliate and I aim higher than shoe laces. You'd be surprised how almost wrong you are about your expectations for the birthday and the likelihood of seeing wet underwear. Just saying.

I am bluntly honest most of the time. Whether people ask me to be or not. Even about myself and my writing. I'm glad 6-7 means nothing. I was afraid to even put it in the damn search bar. There's a lot of them that I've looked up and I can't just bring myself to use in writing. I have become the little old lady that tsks people for saying silly made up words, I fear. I pretty much know they did. I have learned their tells when they're fibbing. I just don't want to think about it either way. lol. And that was very brazen of you, I'm a light sleeper, I would've never forgiven such things going on in my bedroom floor. 😮

Well I mean, if I went harsh on Joel and no evidence of Jaxton being punished, then I'd be in hot water. Although, Jaxton's not shown that he's been given the warnings. Or they've not slowed him down any. In the original writing, she was a lot more firm. She told him that the shenanigans were done. That she understood, but expected him to act better. There would be consequences if he didn't remove his uniform... etc. I was told that it read like someone being too strict for something that wasn't that much of a disturbance. But yes, she watched them eat their little burgers, didn't she? Did I misspell Jolt? I think you meant Javin or Joy. I don't mean to bash your spirits on purpose. But the writing points to Colt and Davin never fooling around. I can't say, "yeah they..." I'm too lady to complete that sentence. I'll only write it in fiction. Which for them, didn't happen, apparently. Sorry for being the grinch that stole that present out from under the tree. I'm sorry for not following the outline. I barely follow my own. Maybe if you threatened something other than the shoe laces that I don't have... because this is 2025, shoelaces were so two decades ago. I do agree with you. Joel has opened his eyes a little bit. If I'm being colorful in my prose, it is like the sun coming out from behind clouds and turning shadowy figures into flowers. With Joel it's men in tight jeans and dirt smeared shirts. Who knew he had a bit of a type... although Colt is more of that type than Davin, so woops... *dangles the Jolt present I just took from you right in front of your face* He was showing frustrations with just existing and not knowing where his place was, or what decisions to make based on that. It's good he's finally started to see it, 25 and 200k words in. I'm glad you enjoyed this chapter. PS. Is it because you know I promised you things in the new writing and you're just waiting for that to be delivered? I have become a bit of a hypocrite for you, as I continuously say that although I do love theories about upcoming chapters, etc. I don't believe in changing the writing to implement them, just because they're popular. Well... I did make a promise, and I kept it. Enjoy. The birthday party was coming up in the next chapter. When I say new writing, it is currently three chapters, and I'm planning a fourth, if not a fifth. I guess I'm taking on the challenge of slowing down the pace of a story that's already moving along at a snail's pace. One could say, the damn thing has begun to go backwards... 40k words backwards. It is writing I knew I should have included in the original. I was told that a lot of what I planned to leave out was important. I was stubborn. I will give @wildone credit. He listened to me complain about the tedious nature of writing a story confined to the restrictions of a school schedule. Then listened to me complain about coming to terms with his suggestions about what needed included and I attempted to get around without writing. So he's listened to me complain twice about something he's been right about all along. Help that man find sanity, because I give him none.

Your poor glasses.