Krista

Davin seems to be slightly paranoid that may be the case. He just doesn't know which way Gavin would go about it... quietly or loudly. Gavin seems to do things a bit... loud. Subtle is lacking with both of them to be fair.

I have my rare moments.

Yes, he has noticed the world around him a bit more and that includes cute faces in the crowd. It does seem like there's been a bit of him waking up all together. Celia is likely a slight favorite in the minds on who will figure it out. Lacey is interesting. She seems to bounce around the house. Maybe if she did it a bit quieter she'd catch them out. Cody... I have a bouncing in my head idea about Cody. We've seen so little of him for so long.

It is a 25kish monster of a chapter. That chapter... of course with the additional three to five chapters ahead of it, I'll have to go back and see if I oopsie double covered anything.

Not bad guesses. Celia and Trace are pretty damn perceptive. Lorianne seems to be a people watcher too...

I mean, I could skip over those chapters. They weren't in the writing before two-ish weeks ago as it is. It will save me two chapters worth of writing, because I still am well aware I need to do the writing for them. And the chapters scare me anyway.. lol.

Well.. that's scary.. lol. Don't know how to .gif respond with this one.. haha. Let's see... he's on the way dear, hold on!

Thank you all for the Thanksgiving Day wishes as well. I hope those in the world that celebrates that tomorrow has a great one as well. Safe travels. I've felt so blessed with the response to this little story so far. It has been a lot more than I ever would have expected.

He's showing more sides of himself other than being guided by fear and being completely closed in on himself. Still on the fence if that means he's settling in better, or just moving away from all that into a different direction.

He may only be somewhat obvious by people who know who Joel is as well. Colt knows about Joel, and Colt seems to also consider that Braden is an attractive guy. Colt is heterosexual, Joel is not. That's the difference between those thought processes. Naturally Colt is going to pick at him for it, because he's a teenage guy and teenage guys do that. It's just with Joel, it's other guys he's poking fun of him about. But Roy, if he caught Joel staring at Lorianne (which he does do), or the Ames twins, then he'd probably make a similar joke. So what we know can and often does influence such things. It is nice that Joel is in an environment that everyone feels safe to make such light hearted jokes of that nature. If Cody had made a joke like that at the Benton table, it would have landed like a stick of dynamite. Small as it seemed to be, it should show Joel where he stands with them. They all recovered after Davin made it clear he was accepting of Joel and they went on about their day. And yeah, it is safe to say both Joel and Davin got a 'feel' for what they can offer one another. *whistles*

He did make a small attempt to get Colt thinking about talking with Trace and Celia about his future plans. We don't know what those plans are though. Well I do, y'all don't. The one thing I do know about teenagers, they are good at making bad decisions. We need to all stop and be thankful about GA being the place that it is. Where we can all share our writing, reading, advice, and live in a good online community. These little communities are getting fewer.

Yeah, his frustrations with how he was being treated was picking at him pretty good. At least he went this route and not the route he told Davin he was going down. He'd be pretty banged up trying to kick all their asses and show them he's not a pushover. If I was a parent I'd pick public stunt over physical altercations, at least. Although I doubt a lot of people in that school will take that stunt lightly, least of all the ones that was sort of made the ass of that joke in the process. I had that scene going a lot differently. I originally wrote Reynart tracking him down and stopping him before he got to the cafeteria to begin with. Thinking his little stunt had gone far enough. It had swept through the whole school, I thought with that being an ingredient that she certainly would want to put that to bed sooner rather than later. Wildthing told me that she came across completely unfair with him and as I read it, I agreed. He wasn't doing anything really, just wearing a uniform shirt. Being from the wrong school wasn't technically breaking a rule, so for her to pull him aside and demand him change his clothes made her read differently. Something also needed to happen from that stunt outside of possibly being reprimanded. I rewrote that scene including the chant, having Roy be part of their stunt, and then the talk being slightly different. Her being more understanding to what he was attempting to do instead of focusing on weighing any kind of punishment. I don't think she'd continue being so forgiving if he keeps up such shenanigans though. Her words of, "this needs to end here.." shouldn't be taken lightly with him.

sigh... two attempts to post and the not posting bug kept biting me... Let's hope the boy, early in his growing pains doesn't backslide on us. It would be like Joel to do that. I do wonder who you all think will be the first one to figure them out...

Yeah, he didn't weigh the decision before he made it this time. He asked a few questions, if Wheeler wasn't a freshman I don't know that he would have joined. Giving up his number was strike one, playing for them at all is strike two for now. Not playing the position he loves and thinks he's best at... would've been strike three and game over. Even I have to admit as the author that I needed the position to be open for me to write him agreeing to play. If I went the route of him having to compete for short-stop, I would have him foregoing his senior year with baseball. Who is to say I'm still not on the fence about that... we're known to be tricky.. authors. But at least for now, that was my thought process for this chapter and the short-term direction forward.

Absolutely no clue it seems. Although, if he did know about Davin he thought Davin didn't know about Joel. So, even if he did think he outed Joel to Davin he still was ashamed with himself for outing him. --- I tried to be intentionally convoluted it was worse, but I got lost so I edited it down a bit. It's safe to assume that Colt doesn't know about Davin though. It may come down to both of them seemingly having the intentions they did with Lorianne, even though Davin was pretty much there because of Colt. If Colt figures that out, it might be a bit much for him to come to terms with... maybe. Naked and plotting as they were.

Yeah, Colt talking. Who knew him doing so would be scary? It has been for Joel the times he has. It was Colt talking that "outed" Joel here. It was also Colt talking that led to him knowing Joel was gay in the first place by picking at him. Colt talking also got him on the creek bank where he had to bust his knuckles on Jonny's head... (although it was Celia who made him talk that time) Maybe Colt needs to shut his mouth.

He agreed, yes. I don't think it was lightly, but he wanted the decision made he was growing frustrated with his brain, Davin, and feeling pulled in different directions... Still yet to be seen if he comes to like that decision or not. If there is some hidden fallout with him, or backtracking... The joke about Braden is something I considered editing out. I thought it would land as an innocent joke, but the weight of the words might be a bit... weighty. Braden is eye candy, and Joel did play "teacher's pet" this chapter, saving the unprepared Braden. Being the only one out of 15 students to do the homework making it slightly worse for him. No one wants to be the 'only' one to do that sort of thing, relaxed class or not. Joel is out to improve his GPA in hopes of getting more help with college, so he's going to do his homework this year that's been one of his rare decisions he's never waffled back and forth on. Zero, not unique... but teenagers. Can we really expect true uniqueness from them? I mean... when it isn't borderline life threatening or dumb, they seem to be pretty creative with that. The number was more for him and his mindset than anything. So no Pie symbol this time, although I do have to admit when @Mattyboy brought it up I was tempted.

That .gif is both funny and disturbing, good work finding that treasure... lol. Colt definitely included Joel in the table talk. It's also been a bit of a rare sight for him to actually be sitting down to eat with them. He's been running off with Sierra and skipping out on chores. He's felt the tension in his own family with his own decision he's yet to tell them about. So, the dude talks today... I guess he's being a bit symbolic with that number. Starting from nothing like he is. Gavin was missing. Girls, a quickly eaten supper, and horse poop took him completely out of the discussions. Gavin's energy is a safe energy for Joel, I think he likes when Gavin is around to provide a simpler dynamic to be around.

Yeah, the circle of people who know didn't really expand to include Davin, really... but to everyone involved it did. Now the bed sharing and such might be looked at a bit differently. Celia already said that she hoped it didn't make things weird between them, so it may be safe to say that she's already thinking along those lines. Davin's little 'act' earned him some brownie points. So, he might get some extra brownies after supper or something, just for him. The talk wasn't painful, as in he didn't bolt from the field with a hard no. If he did, I doubted he'd come back for a third time, and if I was the coach I wouldn't force or suggest a third time either. The decision I think surprised all three of them, to a point. Davin and the Coach especially. The rush of nerves that struck him after he committed to playing... maybe it won't be a decision he comes to realize he never wanted to make.

You're welcome! I'm glad you liked the chapter.

You're welcome. I was thinking about sticking to my schedule even after Wildthing surprised me with the edits and saying he was done with the chapter.

Davin was legitimately surprised that Colt would've blatantly made that little joke. But yeah, he kept up the bit nicely I thought. And true, in murder cases that's a motive for a lot of those. At least all involved all secretly or outright knew to begin with this time. Maybe a more quiet and brooding Colt is safer to be around than a relaxed and talking one. Stress is bad for digestion, you're right to be concerned. lol. The Birthday party was going to happen next chapter. 😮 But now there's three chapters coming up ahead of it. Probably will end up with five between/before the birthday party chapter. I'm completely scared about the three maybe five 'bonus' chapters too. A lot goes on in them that wasn't in the writing.

You're welcome. @wildone surprised me with getting this chapter done. He told me yesterday or I wouldn't have noticed. I've been writing the "bonus chapters." He gave me permission to post this as a small gift, and I honestly don't know what my weekend is going to look like. I thought about not posting, but you know me, if I see a completed and edited chapter to post... I post. At least this time it wasn't followed up with a tiny lecture from an angry Canadian. Joel may have been riding a little high for his chant that scared the hell out of him, and then feeling a bit relieved that he wasn't in trouble. Davin has been slowly working on him. I don't want to credit his "hand skills" the other night... but you know, could be a factor who knows? He 'made' the decision, we're still yet to see if he will like that decision or not.

probably Fixed that for you.