Krista

You can thank @wildone the Wildthing for that cliffhanger. He told me it was a nice stopping point and cliffhanger wouldn't hurt anybody. I was fully committed to giving you the entire second half of the meet this chapter. And, I am glad the inclusion of Oliver allows another possible outcome to enter the chat. Staying with Luke... means staying in the home town. It was his goal to take his swimming as far as he could and to get out of their small town. Even if Luke is still up in the air, those goals are still very much a part of Jackson's make-up. He wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that... again, I think the boy learned from the last two errors. Slacking off and losing his first scholarship, then not opening the recruiting packages being the two examples. I mean... sometimes you think, "well at least he has his looks..." when it comes to him. lol. I too am excited to get to Luke's Monday plans. I 'think' y'all will like them.

Yeah, despite their forced proximity, if Jackson didn't have feelings at all - there would be zero growth. Luke would have just been his "ride.." and nothing would have been said between them. They had built a tolerable relationship that got vulnerable here. I liked writing the kiss.. and I liked that Luke initiated it.

Actually, yes. Stylistically speaking, he would have shown more pride within the school to speak its name there. Especially since he felt he was well liked and... I wouldn't say.. "ruled the school.." even if he did call it.. "my.." and not "the.." or just formally saying the school's name. In hindsight, if I had this story to do over again - I would have had them knowing one another when they were younger. There would have been a time where both parents would have forced the relationship. I can recall stating that Jackson started rather young about church and not wanting to go.. and at a young age won that battle. Although, I still feel realistically, that connection would have been made. They wouldn't have been complete strangers.. and logically, they probably are aware. Luke mentions that he most definitely was, since Grace and Cindy talked about Jackson. It wasn't as reciprocated as I would have liked.

Oh gosh, I love you description of Jackson here... lol. As you've like realized that by now, I set out to make Jackson unlikeable. Hopefully not to a point where you say.. "well I can't go on.." and stop reading... but definitely wanted people to have a semblance of this response. I must say too, the response I got from Jackson's Mom was a bit frustrating to me, but I liked that too. I wanted people to have a commentary on their family dynamic. Grace may seem unfair to some, since it is too little too late... you raised him, you reap what you sow.. right? Since he's 18... why start now.. I guess that was some of the sentiment with the annoyance. She was a bit inconsistent too. And yes, I think with all that said, she is still the pussycat to Cindy's Cindzilla.. lol.

Only two more events and I would be done for the weekend. After my muscles and breath came back to me in the cooldown laps, I got out and grabbed a towel. Drae was right behind me and when we got to our station Tony handed us both a couple of protein bars and a bottle of Gatorade. I never liked the mixture of chocolate and juice, but I ripped the wrapper when my stomach growled. Matt came back to the station just before Aiden’s race started and Tony left us to follow him to the starting blo

146 sounds interesting... I may give it a go..

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” my little brother said after I got out of my hand-me-down truck. It was more than a hand me down, it was my grandpa’s truck that became my dad’s work truck. Then my older brother took over the wheel four years ago, and now for about two months it belonged to me. The bed had rust spots all the way through, and the brown color wasn’t the original shade, it had once been black. It had cracked leather bench seats that were just as faded as the rest of the truc

Joel's day has been completely normal until he comes home to find his younger brother sitting out on the front steps. After a word of warning, his life abruptly changes when a careless mistake reveals his one secret to the rest of his family. *Originally part of the 2023 Secret Author Contest: Secrets (Only chapter One)

Lmao. I like ironic titles. Actually, I'm lazy with titles... so who knows. Power abuse! Power abuse!

Celebrate? 😮 That's only if he beats Pete. What if he doesn't?

So is this like a drinking game? First one to guess a person and agreed upon as correct causes everyone else to take a shot? If so, I'm not game.. because none of them are coming to mind and I cannot be this drunk on a Sunday evening.

We lost a huge spirit and personality with Carlos, one that will leave a void for a really, really long time. I am so glad he came to us, gave us his time, and his story telling in such an unapologetic and groundbreaking way. My thoughts go out to those who knew him better than I did, and to his family who are dealing with the loss of such a force of nature.

Thank you for your compliment on my sentence. The 100 is also coming. 😮 As far as visual cues in the water during the races, I have no idea how their vision works, or how they know where they are in the pool as far as placement. I guess technically it solely relies on a person's conditioning and technique. They either have it, or they don't. The only strategy going in, would be knowing your opponents, their strengths or weaknesses, but once in the water you have to pace yourself and push yourself based on what you know you can handle.. what stroke you're weaker in, and what strokes your opponents are strongest in as well. I do the vision thing to add tension mostly... it may be a bit unrealistic. Maybe he could do commentary if this is ever made into an audio book. The idea of shoving his accomplishments in Cindy's face might have turned the tide for ol' Welker. Maybe he should have started with that sales pitch... lol. I like writing the scenes out of the water with them more than I do in the water. There are characters I love in both friend groups, so I like that you like them as well. It is nice to see a character have a life outside of the romance partner, I know most Romances are all about the two characters always being face to face... --- I also would have had a chapter to post tonight, but I've hit two major snags in the writing of 52. First, I doubled his Individual Medley, I made him take two laps down and back for each stroke. Then, the Wild thing told me I did his last two strokes out of order when he did the reading/editing... so now, unfortunately, I'm going to have to do another massive edit of that entire section of the race... by the time I get this thing done, I might be old and gray, I swear. --- I do want to take the time to thank y'all for sticking with this story through the years so far. I am so sorry for the delays it hit over that span as well. It has knocked down viewership/readers/comments overall, I know I have myself solely to blame for that. So, thank you again, for being here still. This is likely my last full novel length writing project I will post here, so I'll finish it off right I hope.

ooohh.. you scared me. I thought the deadline for the Anthology was coming up when you posted the blog.. lol. October is still in my procrastination wheelhouse.

I didn’t think Regionals would come, mostly because Emily kicked my ass in the pool. She ironed my breaststroke out, there wasn’t a part of my body that didn’t ache. It only told me that I hadn’t been doing it right, that I still had a lot to learn. Now that I was in the hotel room watching Charlie trying to wrestle the television remote from Drae’s hands while Tara and Shay sat on my bed and laughed, I couldn’t help thinking that I would have liked at least one more week to prepare myself.

Nuh uh... Netflix yes, Amazon Prime, no. lol. And I was so excited about Prisma that I actually insisted that you watch it.. and they left it on a cliffhanger! It has to be renewed.. -- I can't remember the name of the show, but it was a Gay Bachelor sort of show. But half the cast were straight and the Bachelor didn't know. They were competing for the Trip and prize money if selected. I thought it was disingenuous to have a groundbreaking gay dating show, only to have half the guys to choose from, not there for the right reasons. He ended up choosing a gay man in the end, but the runner up was straight. It was crappy and when that twist was revealed I stopped watching and that has been the only dating reality show I've watched more than halfway through the season.

I like Shadow and Bone, I liked season one better. The way Netflix cancels shows, unless the numbers were better than they appeared.. Shadow and Bone may be over. I thought the second season was slow paced... very slow paced and they tried to focus on too many minor story lines instead of moving the thing forward. Next season, if Netflix doesn't knee-jerk cancel the show, we're getting more into the Six of Crows story line too, it seems. -- A show I really fell in love with was Prisma on Amazon Prime. It took me three episodes to really get into it, but Amazon better renew it for a second season... or I'll... cancel my subscription. -- As for the original topic, I don't like dating shows of any kind. I've never found them to be more than hypocritical and shallow all around.

I mean... I am sane mostly, so most of what I say has some semblance of agreeability to it. Unlike some things @wildone comes up with. Tsk tsk tsk... Me and the wild-thing did discuss a part 2. I'll attempt to convince him to go further with it next time I see him. I mean, we need to see the rinse cycle at least...

There are no granny panties to be found in my drawers, Steven. As I don't and never have owned any. But, when they find your body nestled up against a dry creekbank in the back sixty of someone's property with a pair of them around your neck... I'll try not to laugh when they're questioning me in an interrogation room. I think I'll get off free.

It didn't go past him being annoyed that his father might have gotten into trouble, with all the underage drinking and such going on. Other than that, they were both a bit overly sensitive about it. The friend group was getting along too well... so a little dusting up won't hurt them. lol.

Might want to cross your toes too, if you can.. lol. And aww, hallmark moments are so sweet and too rare. I really liked Craig and Grace's interactions in this chapter, they were fun to write.

Thank you! I'm glad you liked this chapter. And thank you for leaving a comment. Very much appreciated.

I was at work and checked in on my story comments... and I laughed. Luckily I was alone in my office and didn't have to explain myself. But thank you for this.

I had a bittersweet feeling about my high school life ending, too. Jackson has had a bit of an up and down year, but I think he'd be pretty happy over all now. Same with Luke to be honest. The only person I see kissing the ground and happily screaming for joy after the year ends right now is poor Welker. These characters are fun to write. Thank you for leaving a comment!

I wish I was as inventive as what I make my characters out to be, and you may have gotten a few of them. But alas.. all lies... you'll have to use your imagination on what Teenagers can come up with in regards to what they'd call Cindy for storming the field again. lol. *whistles* Thank you for leaving a comment, they are very much appreciated.