NimirRaj

I love that Ariel doesn’t like Sean either and gets a bad vibe from him not to mention is able to see Randy doesn’t trust him. Too bad Ryan thinks Randy is overreacting as obviously if a third party gets the same feeling then it should be a little more obvious to you that you of all people should trust your boyfriend’s instincts.

This chapter is sweet and bitter sweet at the same time as it’s a reminder of how toy stores are disappearing in a lot of places. There’s just something about a place solely devoted to kids and a toy store is almost like year round Christmas for a kid. They always bring back childhood whimsy in my opinion and is so much better than shopping online as seeing the joy on a child’s face is priceless...though I’m sure their begging for everything in sight grates on a parent’s nerves. 😂

I have mixed feelings about Kyle. Yes he was abused in some ways by his brother and yes Mike mislead him except he fully admits to being interested in hurting them out of jealousy. He chose to do what he did because he was jealous of what they have. So yes I sympathize with his home life and having a jerk for a friend yet he freely chose to harm others knowing the consequences yet at the time didn’t care. It’s easy to repent and feel guilty after the fact. I love how Adam handled the minister and I am happy there wasn’t more drama than that for him to deal with. The church is full of hypocrites considering how uplifted the funeral services were and considering how he died as he was far from the example of a Christian. I’m concerned about the rest of the church now because if they see him as an upstanding man after what he did some other members of the church may take up his cause to straighten out his son so to speak. I’m a Christian and while this is fiction there are real people who sometimes make me sick to be one. The idea that anyone could seek to harm a person and use religion as an excuse to justify their intolerance is sickening.

I’m proud of Zack about how he dealt with his teacher. Everyone has their own way, their own path, and their own purpose. Just because someone else doesn’t agree with how you do something doesn’t mean you should conform just to make them happy. Art is a way to express yourself and as such it is important that you do so your way. He’s putting his soul into his writing and it will shine bright for those who want to see it.

I’m glad Zack finally got the nerve to fight back but he went into battle unarmed. He needs to think more strategically in the future though I can understand his rage.

Thankfully his mom is getting suspicious but eh not quite enough yet. I mean she suspects that he was home at some point that evening which would imply her husband lied yet she’s wanting confirmation from Zack as to what’s going on. Now behind the scenes they may have had a talk but as far as we know she hasn’t brought up the inconsistencies in the story with her husband. I wish Zack could tell her but his fear regarding his dad’s threats seem justified as while he hasn’t hurt her yet to our knowledge there’s no reason to expect he wouldn’t. Of course it may be a bluff to keep Zack quiet but there’s no way for him to know that. I hope when she realizes what’s going on she doesn’t end up hurt by the bastard but we’ll see.

It’s a sweet chapter that shows once again how much his dad has screwed with his mind. Zack can’t imagine anyone loving him which is sad but hopefully Brody is going to show him he is worthy of being loved. Going home is going to be painful for various reasons and I dread the moment when he has to deal with it. I know she’s busy and while she seems like a loving woman I wish his mother would wake up so life could get better for him. She’s already getting suspicious she just is blind to the fact that the way he has been acting his connected to his father though if she finds out he’s gay rather than how his dad treats him she’ll just assume he’s been depressed over hiding that from everyone.

Poor kid I know he’s not the first to feel guilt over something he truly had no control over. I’m glad he told Tanner how things are because there are different levels of being poor. Tanner saw that meal he received and it probably helped cloud his view so he thought they were better off than they were. True they aren’t living on the street but they could be a very short walk away from it if something goes wrong. I hope Derrick’s mom gets the job but she’ll have some stiff competition. It won’t make them millionaires but it will give them the financial stability they desperately need. 🤞🏻🍀

What lie is daddy gonna tell mom when she finds out he’s been gone. Probably some lame ass story about how Zack left the house on his own accord and must have left his shoes somewhere.

Cleaning the basement like he did was risky and they’ll be hell to pay when mom isn’t around. Still, I’m glad he’ll get some time with Brody.

Zack seems to have made plans with Brody while forgetting his dad ordered him to clean the basement that weekend plus possibly the landlord’s storage space. Things are not going to end well if he skips out on cleaning the basement not that he’ll get off unharmed either way. Adam isn’t blind so I wonder how soon he’ll catch on to what’s going on between Zack & Brody especially as suspicious as he seemed when he came back in the room.

Adam is a little dense. I mean If your friend is always rushing to get home, if he’s always staying in on the week days after school, and if he tells a story about getting hurt that you don’t believe and then tells a different story about how the injury occurred wouldn’t you start to draw conclusions? I mean do they even go to Zack’s house ever because unless his mom is around you know his dad wouldn’t permit that which once again would be a red flag. I know being abused by parents isn’t something every kid would suspect of their friend’s home life but he should still be more concerned about his friend than angry that his friend won’t tell him what’s going on. Adam is going to feel like a jerk when he finds out what’s been going on.

Wow so mom not only doesn’t know her husband is abusing their son but he’s cheating on her for at least the third time in her own home. Mother’s are often observant and you’d think she’d be picking up on something being wrong with her son. I know Zack is worried about what will happen but he needs to tell her what’s going on. He doesn’t deserve his father treating him like this and she doesn’t deserve a husband like him. Sadly for the moment anyway he’s too worried about negative consequences for his mom to tell her what’s going on. If she wasn’t so busy I’m sure she’d question some things if only where his PlayStation went.

The problem I see with this is Derrick says he doesn’t trust the school to do anything after he was beaten up before but he never sought help so he can’t blame them for not doing something they didn’t know about. His mom told the school something was going on and yes clearly if any students cared they could have given the school an idea who did it yet nobody actually saw it as far as we know except for Derrick & the guys who beat him up. Derrick refused to tell the school who beat him up and the other students don’t like him so even nobody was likely to come forward if the school did make enquires. Derrick needs to tell someone because their last attempt would have been a lot more violent if they had managed to go through with it and there’s no reason they won’t try again. Mitch is mostly wrong but he does have a small point. I didn’t like the fact that Derrick was going to ask Chris to get his mom an interview because I was certain Chris would read more into it than there was. If they were simply friends fine but Chris still has feelings for him. Mitch is clearly jealous and sees Derrick as the enemy which is unlikely to change anytime soon.

I’m still worried that Tanner is being naive about his parents as he says he knows what they could do if he comes out to them and doesn’t care yet I still think they could ship him off to a boarding school, a religious school, etc...to separate him from Derrick. I want Derrick’s mom gets the job but I don’t want Chris to get his hopes up that they’ll be more than friendship between them. Derrick says he won’t flirt but he hopes any lasting feelings help convince Chris to help him with getting his mother the job except that just feels like it’s opening a can of worms. Hopefully Mitch will man up and Chris will see that he’s worth dating. Mitch sounds just as obsessed with Chris as Chris is with Derrick, considering he talked like he’d commit murder for Chris, so I guess they’re the perfect match.

Tanner is a bit naive or overly optimistic when it comes to telling his family he is gay. He keeps saying everything will be alright but unlike Derrick’s mom his family is clearly homophobic plus he’s forgetting that he is a minor. He might could deal with them simply being unhappy about it but as a minor they can ship him off to a different school for instance which would separate him from Derrick. I’m glad to see Joel’s mom there because I want to know the full story. Who knows if the story Joel told is even the complete truth and he’s definitely overstayed his welcome. Despite seemingly growing up with similar economic issues Joel seems oblivious to Derrick’s living situation like how he was so blase about eating Derrick’s lunch. He’s clearly a tad self centered and if his mom really is that bad of an addict he should seek help rather than mooch off his friends who can’t really afford him staying with them.

Lol I wish Joel had been around to hear that she thought they were dating. The look on his face would be priceless. I’m glad she handled it so well and went from shocked to proud mom when she found out he was dating Tanner. I guess the teen model look can win her over 😂.

Rofl sex and peanut butter huh. I’ve gotta a feeling Joel isn’t a dummy. Time for some revealing conversation.

So close yet so far. I’m hoping Chris will have a change of heart but I wish Derrick could unbearden himself to his mom as he would be so much happier. Still I get the terror and the almost autopilot lies that spring forth to cover the truth. You’d think it would be easier if your parent seemed accepting but it’s never easy.

Thank goodness Derrick tapped into his inner strength and was able to walk away with his head held high. I’m trying to feel sorry for Chris but even though I know part of this is caused by his home life I just can’t sympathize with him. Despite talking about love everything revolves around Chris and his being happy at the expense of others. Hopefully he’ll see the light and evolve though time will tell.

I thought Derrick had the guts not to give into this blackmail but now he’s going to give into rape. I mean I can’t imagine that Chris isn’t expecting sex ugh. Derrick’s speech about not caring if everyone hated him because he was smarter and had Tanner had me falsely convinced he wouldn’t go. Please Tanner or Joel stop him! Which is worse blackmail plus possibly evidence after what happens along with possibly losing his boyfriend or everyone knowing he’s gay? It’s kinda cold to say this but everyone seems to hate him anyway so I wouldn’t be worried about myself as much as maybe I’d worry about how Tanner’s family would react. They’d probably deny it but justify shipping Tanner off somewhere far away.

Derrick needs to tell an authority figure about the hacking or suspected hacking. If no teacher has knowledge of assigning those detentions, if there’s no note from a authoritive figure regarding the lockers except digitally, etc...surely it’ll look suspicious to anyone who looks at those records and maybe they could adjust the security to keep Mitch out if only for a while. I’d think they could tell something funny was going on if they looked closely.

This was going to come to a head eventually and it makes sense Chris would find out by catching them together. Derrick is worried about having lost a friend but it’s his fault. He shouldn’t have told Chris he was straight and he should have asked Tanner about telling Chris they were dating rather than just pretending he was a single straight guy. Now Chris feels betrayed and lied to which he was. If Chris is angry enough he could cause a lot of problems for both Derrick & Tanner going forward considering the connections he has. Derrick had it bad before but I see a storm on the horizon.

This was a twist I didn’t expect but I should have. Derrick was so excited and it only seems inevitable that things would go downhill. Despite his achievement they’ll probably be plenty of students who make jokes and comments about why he didn’t show up probably saying something like he was too ashamed to show up in his clothes, etc... I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault that things turned out the way they did but it just seems like life itself likes to keep Derrick down. Every time the poor kid starts feeling too good another shoe drops.

Derrick is playing with fire because he’s enjoying the flirting a little and he keeps saying yes to private moments with Chris not that Tanner seems worried. Never ever say “What could go wrong?” because that’s like requesting fate send something crazy your way. Derrick is going to get himself in a mess because either seemingly homophobic Joel is going to realize our little Derrick is not as straight as he thinks or he’s going to end up with Joel of all people interested in him as more than a friend. Doesn’t he have enough drama and love interests? Derrick bro tell Chris no more firmly, don’t stray from the guy you love, and brace yourself for a bumpy ride.