Krista

Thank you for reading! Ridley isn't talking, that much is certain. I wonder who will break that wall down... if it ever comes down. Also, the way I see Ridley and basketball - is that he is a big fish in a very shallow pond. He does so well because - he is rather dedicated, yes, but he's also in a district/area that just doesn't offer a lot of true competition for him? Even then - I think I hinted the school has struggled significantly in the past and now they're doing really well. So who knows, maybe there is some attention swirling around. Ridley wouldn't be aware of that though. Thank you for reading! I feel his mother and to a point, his sister are concerned about Ridley. I just haven't really gotten into the family dynamics aside from the closeness with his father. As far as the school, from what I have seen with my own experiences, is that unless Ridley's grades drop or he becomes a behavioral issue/concern - acting out/causing disruptions, or skipping school a lot - then they would only show concern then. Otherwise they just let it go. It isn't the most ideal scenario, but there are probably true 'students of concern' in that school that time is allocated towards and Ridley - just doesn't require the attention. Also, without the disruptions/loss of grades/etc.. it would take a willing participant in Ridley and I don't think he would ever be willing - if his response to be featured in the school paper is anything to go on anyway. Thank you for reading. I hope the future chapters live up to the first one. Lol. I know after this chapter posted I went back and I completely re-read the entire thing, hoping the tone and such didn't change much. I do enjoy the discussion so far. I'm sure they could find out about the bombing and such, then link it back to Ridley, especially after the story of how Ridley got his name. Small towns also like to write about these sorts of things in their own publications, so the tragedy would be known, at least in archive formats to be honest. Whether it has remained in the minds of the people around him is yet to be seen really. It is interesting that you say Ridley's issues started well before his father's injuries. I only hinted at him possibly shutting down well before the current situation the story is about. Matt dumping him as a friend and Ridley's somewhat indifference to that happening is probably the most telling. As for the adults in the story - yes, I feel they are aware. Well his Mother has to be, she is directly involved, but the Counsellor and teachers probably were just briefed of the situation and told to be wathful, but typically they only watch out for behavioral issues, not changes, right? If the grades are maintained and Ridley doesn't become disruptive or a behavioral issue then they typically don't interfere, or at least that is my take on things when issues such as these popped up in the schools I've attended. Aww, yeah - Ridley is probably one of the more vulnerable characters I have written about. Most of it is internal, but there are hints that maybe school, for him, could be better. Thank you for reading! Yeah, started right in the middle of the action there. Also, thank you for pointing out a segment of the story and calling it a classic. I don't know how many one-liners or dialogs and such that are out there that I am truly proud of myself for.. I know TBY when Olivia said answered for Connor about his Senior Loyalty and she said, "In my pants," when I re-read that as I spot edited - I laughed and was like.. 'How on earth..' - I may have mentioned that before. But Ridley thinking this line with such unapologetic conviction stuck with me, so I'm glad you noticed. ----- I just want to thank you all for taking the time to read this story and post comments. It started out as a short story that got too massive. So my biggest concern with that, is if I moved things along too quickly, but when I decided to face the music and break it up into parts - that the story arc became too fast, then tapered off into something else. Also, I am 'very' worried when it comes to responding to these, since I already know how the story ends. So I don't want to start babbling all over the place and slap you all with a spoiler unintentionally. So know that I have read and enjoyed the discussion so far. I will try to respond to comments individually, but if they felt disconnected or something, that's the reason. I just don't want to accidentally respond with something that I know happens, but may not be in this particular part.

Practice went as expected. Some of the passes from Reed and Matt stung my hands, but after they saw I handled them easily enough it stopped. They still hated that I was being featured for homecoming. Over the years we had gradually gotten better, some of the guys grew taller, some of them were replaced by better underclassmen. We had a winning season last year and this season we had only lost a handful of games. We were favorites going into the postseason district championship tournament. So the

Another slight this world has dealt you lefties. -- Also, I used to wear my husband's boxers as shorts around the house. I would roll the elastic so they would stay up. I wore my own underwear underneathe. Does that count? I put a stop to his boxer preferences ages ago, btw.

“Riddles,” a girl said as I heard a chair pulling away from the table where I sat. Her accent gave her away as soon as she called my name. Glancing over I saw Mari juggling her camera as she sat down at the circular table trying to keep her laptop bag from falling from her shoulder. She left a seat open beside me, despite the table being empty. I wondered if she saw my cringe in the reflection in the window’s glass, but it was bright in the cafeteria and I could barely see my reflection staring

Ridley wants a lot of things. To be left alone, for people to forget a stupid nickname, and for time to stop and rewind two years. What he doesn't want is to be featured in the school paper.

Some readers do notice the differences with a man writing m/m fiction vs. a woman. I'm also sure there are narrow minded people that can't pick up a M/M romance with a woman's name on the cover. Probably of the same mold that wouldn't choose a female doctor and so on. I don't think it is that big of an issue as a whole within the genre. There are probably more Women who write M/M romances than men - or at least a more readily available one/rabid following. On the other hand, some men may prefer women who write M/M. I personally don't see much of a difference, but I write more than I read within this genre. I am extremely picky, I write the stories I want to read and if what I am reading differs too much from that, then I don't finish - typically. I'm like that with Heterosexual romances too, probably only slightly more forgiving. If it is a strict romance, I mean. I can read M/M stories where romance isn't the basepoint with a lot more ease - that is why I used to lean heavily towards Paranormal/Fantasy stories when I started reading and fanfictions - because those were different than what I can critique as I read. I do get what she is saying; that men want a male voice when they read. When you lose the male voice, you lose the whole purpose of M/M Romance and that includes the sex scenes. There are discussions about this type of thing already on GA, so I don't want to repeat myself too much. You can put down the writing, the story, etc I only ever get annoyed when people outright blame a person's gender for the reason why they can't read something. As she said, it takes some research for women to write the sex scenes, but not so much the romance because we really aren't that different. That tends to hold true, because one of the most asked questions of me is, "How do you write such believable male characters..." and I always just respond with something like, "I'm not really writing a male character, I'm just writing about people..." Men are different in a lot of ways, so as long as some of those things aren't thrown out the window, you can write M/M as a woman. Now, for me I don't feel like her when I go about writing a sex scene/explicite or not. So maybe I'm doing it wrong. I don't feel like I have expressed any of my own fantasies/do's and/or don'ts when it comes to sex. I don't feel like anyone would be like, "Oh wow, that's you Krista..." when they're reading about two dudes playing hide the worm. I do have a funny story of when my husband caught me in the middle of writing a M/M sex scene. It ended with him saying that I was filthy - as a complete compliment, mind you - and I had to remind him that I was still a lady.

No. They won't get Golden Girls right. No one can pull off what those four women did. Also, the writing was controversial and a bit ahead of its time as it was. Also, Hot in Cleveland was a sort of a knockoff of the Golden Girls and if you wanted to torture yourself for an evening you watched that show. Betty was the only redeeming quality in that entire thing. Golden Girls is one show I can pick back up and watch no matter how many times I've watched it, so I don't even want there to be a 'rumor' around that show being picked up for a reboot. -- Some Reboots are very well done, if they keep the essence of the original, but maybe the original was hindered by technology and special effects. Although, nothing is typically worse than Book to Film. Especially in the YA world. Twilight, City Of Bones/The Mortal Instruments... ugh.

I typically do not like remakes - especially sitcoms from decades ago. So when they say they're going to Reboot shows like Frasier, Friends (rumored, probably not going to happen), Will and Grace, etc.. I always take them with a grain of salt. I also feel that writers, even returning writers, tend to falter with reboots, especially if the same actors/actresses are in it. The writing either gets distinctly off-brand or it gets lazy because they're banking on a rabid fanbase forgiving them for lazy writing. Also, I hate to say it, today's culture just ruins a lot of promising ideas. People get offended too easily and it makes creators gunshy and stifled. Sci-fi/Comic Book adaptations and the like are different. They either hit or miss. I feel most of them are boring and follow the same general outline - especially if The CW or FreeForm, etc are involved. I personally tend to like the reboots within these genres to be starkly different, if they're more of the same then I lose interest way more easily. But yeah it's more or less, do you want Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chip cookies or Milk Chocolate Chip cookies, you're not going to sense much of a difference unless you pay attention. (As you can see, I've been doing my Christmas baking) As for Lois and Superman, I heard the first 1/2 of the first season was slow and a bit boring, but it gets better. I personally gave up halfway through the second episode.

As someone who played Mass Effect, I cannot condone this type of Science.

Thank you for reading, leaving a commenting, and a review of this story. I mean, a part 2 would deserve to have some of those things resolved or at least evolved into something more closed, for sure. Right now, I hope Ty has covered his own tracks, letting a felon run is a felony of itself, so he is rather implicated if his bosses catch him in that act as well. So, there 'is' a lot left in this sort of story. I just don't know if I have the time and energy to write it. I'll give it a thought though, I did have plans at one time to give it a go...

Single All the Way - too full of streotypical nonsense, I couldn't get through the first 10 minutes of the film. I have no patience for Christmas movies in general, so I thought maybe that's what it was. Regardless, I feel Netflix went into this thinking, "We'll out-do Hallmark/Lifetime with the campy christmasy bullshit, but we'll also MAKE IT GAY!" So I peronally can't reccomend, since I only watched the beginning. It might have gotten better? But still. I think I will stick to the nostalgia factor movies I grew up watching like those scary assed Rudolph cartoons, Muppets Christmas Carol, etc if I were to find myself actually wanting to watch a Christmas movie. And @wildone you need to put the grinch hat on, because it will complete your entire ensemble. 😮

Liked writing this scene a lot. I wish there was a 'real' place like that out there. I'm sure there is something like that... but the cost of waterproof, non-toxic, environmentally safe slime might be costly.

Can we take a moment to realize that Olivia just called Jackson, "the biggest most spoiled ass." -- and got away with it. lol. I guess they could have squashed some questions by saying, "well we've been neighbors our whole lives and our parents are friends.." If he wasn't the biggest most spoiled ass in school and that's - undeniably - how some people view him, even if they also love him for that exact thing.

His friend group, which includes her son. Much to her dismay at the moment. lol

Ahh, I can only imagine how that would look. Poor Lily, to be honest.. lol. I'm sorry about the delay, it will be a lengthy one as I'm kind of stuck where I'm at. Since you're in the process of rereading, maybe you could PM me and offer some advice? With everything that is going on in the world and what I've personally dealt with for the past few months, it is sometimes hard to write happier stories. Also, sorry I'm a bit of a downer.. lol. I'll try to behave.

It would be an improvement if proven true, unfortunately that wasn't the case.

Lol, I appreciate all comments! I'm glad you felt so strongly about what Andy is doing/the decisions he's making to call him an idiot. A story of mine that I do really recommend as well is, "Standing in Shadows," it took me ages to write and I'm very happy with that story.

Oh gosh, this is a bid late and severely neglected, so I apologize for that. When I see people reading this story I do a little involuntary cringe. It isn't the best story telling thing. It is a bit of a monster to be honest. It was my first, I wrote it in high school and I think I fell into every cliché' and writing don'ts a person can fall into. I posted it and kept it posted for the purpose of - maybe people who read it a long time ago when I first come here might want to revisit it. Also to show that I've possibly grown from Something Unexpected to my current stories... hopefully *finger's crossed.* I remember Andy making tons of bad decisions and I think I remember Chandler not being the best guy in the world at all, but Andy was a bit infatuated with him... Well anyway I think you summed up the entire relationship dynamic between the 3 characters nicely. Yeah, he probably is. lol I wish I could halfway remember this story. Like I said in the other response quoted here, I'm not that big of a fan of this story. It isn't the best written thing in the world and there are just too many words on the pages for me to really work at fixing all the flaws. So I have warned people about the story, hopefully through all the bad there is some good in it. Andy's relationship from what little I can remember wasn't a healthy one with Chandler, at times it was downright toxic and I probably wouldn't write a "love story," of this nature unless that was the intended theme. This was supposed to be a coming of age romance though and on that aspect it falls way short, mostly due to Andy's decisions and Chandler's treatment of Andy. So I do apologize. I think you've recently read The Best Year up to where I have posted, so hopefully you can at least see some improvements both in style and characterizations. Thank you for giving this story a shot.

Yes, it might be time for both boys to tighten down and focus on finishing out their responsibilities. I think Luke may have pushed his mother too far... although, do we 'really' feel sorry for her? Henry has always been involved, just not as vocally as Cindy. I picture him being the voice of reason between the two. Maybe with Cindy crossing a line will make him more of an authority, but Luke also crossed a line. There definitely needs to be a Henry-intervention though, I wonder what that would look like... I've always had a soft spot for Georgia - at least in Football. Also, maybe not a fly on the wall yet, but after the babies, then definitely yes. Henry is a force of nature, I love Henry. He's simple, pragmatic, a dreamer of sorts. He has an absent-minded way of falling into all of his roles, but he gets there and does a really good job. So at least Luke has that in his life. For now, I want Cindy to be taken at face value. So I don't really want to discuss her much. I have a certain way I want this story to end and of course it will involve her in some aspect. It is good to be hopeful for Cindy to rise up or calm down... which ever she needs to do. lol I've not figured that out just yet. If I was into switching POVs, a hungover Luke would be very tempting to write, especially in that household. I doubt Cindy let him sleep it off, or in, she probably had him up bright and early to give him a piece of her mind. I don't think Luke has much to stand on after coming home drunk though, as far as he is concerned both parents are disappointed in him, so I would also be interested in knowing how Luke acknowledges that. Thank you, I wanted a low-key chapter. Although - I know what hangs in the air is still rather heavy. So I can see where the... taste of life sort of chapter might have annoyed people too. I'm glad you liked the realness and thought it was an authentic sort of day, that is what I was going for when I wrote it. I just didn't think it would be as long as it was either. Scott just isn't a recruiter, he's the incoming head coach, so Jackson should feel at least a bit relieved after meeting him, but also nervous about Districts and knowing he still has some convincing to do. Too bad Emily isn't his coach, he'd already be sitting on a scholarship. I 'almost' had her coaching him independently and trying to get him to the Olympics, but I thought that was a bit of a stretch and Jackson has always wanted the college athlete experience. Now he just has to achieve it. 😇

My entire family were infected with it a month ago or so. My two siblings that are currently enrolled in college tested positive. They were both fully vaccinated. My mother and my younger siblings and nephews that are currently living with her all caught it as well. My Mother's two sisters that visited before any of us had symptoms also caught it, they had to be hospitalized. My Mother developed pneumonia, but received home care and oxygen at home she probably should have been hospitalized, but she refused to go and leave everyone that lives with her alone. I am fully vaccinated, I had to be for my job - Pfizer. I was one of the first of my family to develop symptoms, I thought it was a sinus infection. They told us that it was likely someone with mild symptoms or someone asymptomatic that lived in either household that brought the virus into the homes. As for me, I still have symptoms - mostly just excess phlegm, headaches, fatigue. Although I never developed a cough, I had headaches, my ears were clogged, I lost my taste/smell, I ran a fever off and on for two weeks, sore throat, muscle aches, and my mind seemed to be in a fog, I was forgetful, dizzy, etc. That could've been stress related though and I lost twenty pounds, I still haven't recovered my physical strength. Aside from my mother and her two sisters, one of my daughters was the worst hit. She had a severe cough, lost her taste/smell, sore throat, vomiting/diarrhea, some difficulty breathing. It scared her and it scared me. I also had to jump between my home and my mother's home to make sure everyone was improving, fed, bathed, etc. We thought about just turning our living room and such into one large bedroom and try to move everyone in, but it would have been very crowded. The people here who know me best, know I have a large family. I hope for no long term or hidden effects and I hope not to do this again. That is why I haven't been here or posting.

The next morning I woke up to a buzzing in my pocket. Reaching down I pulled my phone out, it was an alert. Glancing at it, my head pounding as I shied away from the light coming in from the window. Seeing the reminder about, ‘Open House,’ at Tony’s I grimaced throwing the covers off me. Looking around I had to think back to remember why I was sleeping in my parents room. The soft snoring of my father beside me also reminded me. The queen bed wouldn’t have been big enough for all three of us by

Yeah, it was a smallish prank, that Connor actually had fun with. But in the grand outcome it wasn't the smoothest of moves, especially since Luke/Cindy were there. Definitely not smooth at all.

Oh wow, I completely forgot I named their town.. hahaha.

Yes, I've read this story twice, once while I was writing it and a second time so that I could gather my thoughts on it and continue it. I was shocked at myself at times, it was kind of weird.

Yeah, him saying no to the GSA is very reasonable based on what we know he is dealing with. In small towns where it isn't normalized to be out, it is right to doubt that even someone like him would come through that unscathed. Also, it is his senior year, no one wants to make huge life changes at the close of their senior year... they just want to bask in it a bit. And yeah, maybe Luke will turn tables on Cindy, but he has to know he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on with this one too, so who knows. I was going to write a scene that would make Cindy look far more hypocritical than she is, but decided against it. It would have hurt Henry and Luke too and I didn't want for that to happen. I could probably write it as a "deleted" scene so y'all can judge. I think if the game went on, it would have turned into more or less something that would out Jackson and Luke. If Luke got drunker or Derek/Toby. I could see them asking questions only Jackson and Luke would have to drink to. I actually had them doing that, but wanted to create tension by adding BFA and Connor. Lily more or less saved them, either intentionally or what have you by not wanting to continue. Yeah, the final scene I worried about. I asked the @wildone if I was showing too much vulnerability with Jackson. I do like doing that, as I've said above, but I know some criticism I got from Cory in SIS is that he was a bit too meek. Jackson definitely is a Momma's boy, but I wouldn't say that to his face.. lol.