Graeme

Sometimes it's the bad times, the problems in life, that help us understand what's important. Devin has come a long way towards accepting Kevin, and Kevin is there to support his brother through his own crisis. The interesting part for me was Kevin and his mother working together to show their support for Devin. It's Mr. Williams who they had to wrestle onto the right path, so he's gone a full circle in the story: from dictatorial and angry, to loving support for Kevin, and back to being angry again. But I like imperfect characters. They always feel more real to me than someone who always knows what to do or say in every circumstance.

Loyal dog stays with lost three-year-old overnight

I agree @JeffreyL. Devin started changing a couple of chapters ago. Realising he's in trouble has sped up the process and I'm hopeful for a reconcilliation between the brothers soon. Kevin doesn't need to change, as witnessed by his comment that he's not Devin and he still loves his brother. That comment to Cameron was poignant and gets me everytime I read it.

Ron is posting twice a week. For me in Australia, that's Tuesday and Friday. In North America, it's Monday and Thursday.

As usual, others have already commented on the main points, but there's a couple of things I noticed in this chapter. The first is how insecure Ashely is. She's so desperate for Devin's love that she'll wreck his life to keep him, if that's what it takes. Given that she already suspects she's pregnant, I can understand that desperation, but she's not thinking clearly. She said she's a week late, which means she was aware of the possibility when she arranged for Gordon and Paul to jump Kevin. As is too common, she's come up with an idea to win back Devin and she's continuing down that path, even though there's no sign it's working. The second is more subtle. Exactly how did Paul's father know what happened that night? Either he's very controlling and ordered Paul to do what Ashley had planned (regardless of whether he knew of her involvement), or Paul tells him everything (possibly because he's been intimidated into doing so). After all, normally I wouldn't expected a teenager to tell their father that they failed to jump someone. Paul wasn't hurt or injured, so there's no reason for him to have said anything. The fact that his father knew means there's much more going on behind the scenes in that household than we're seeing. Finally, Devin has definitely turned a corner when it comes to his relationship with his brother. He's not finished his journey, but he's maturing enough to know what he should've been doing from the very start. I look forward to seeing if he can maintain that maturity when they finally get to talk (and when he finds out that Ashley is pregnant).

One of the things I love about this story are the reflected situations. Mrs. Williams tells Kevin he can't see Cameron because he's a bad influence. Mr. Williams tells Devin that he can't see Ashley because she's a bad influence. Both are told they're being unreasonable and unfair...and that's true to a degree. In Kevin's case, it's Mrs. Williams's refusal to accept that Kevin's gay that is the reason for her 'ban'. In Devin's case, it's his own lie about the reason for missing classes that gave Mr. Williams the excuse for the 'ban'. The two are not equal, and Ashely really is the reason for Devin missing classes, but I'm surprised that Mr. Williams didn't call out Devin's stated excuse as bullshit. He's recognised other false excuses by the boys, is he being deliberately obtuse on this one? Or is it the basketball team situation that's pushed him over the edge? He went overboard with Kevin when Kevin said he didn't want to play. Is Devin being off the team the reason for his reaction being stronger than needed? The opening scene shows that Devin is maturing. He cares about his brother, even if he's unable to show it. Ashley still has a long way to go with her own maturity. That's shown by what happened in that closing scene. She doesn't care about what Devin cares about. She's only interested in herself and making sure Devin's attention is only on her. Of course, I also understand why she was so angry in the opening scene. Devin had just had sex with her (twice!) and when she asks what he's thinking about, he tells her he's thinking about her rival for Devin's affections. Of course she was pissed off! Devin told her, rightly, that it's not an either/or situation when it comes to who he cares about, but she's not mature enough to see that. Onto the next chapter...

It's so easy for those who are gay to forget that coming out affects those around us, too. Our focus is naturally and rightly on ourselves, but others can struggle, too. This is a theme I keep coming back to in my stories. Thank you. Yes, it can be painful, though I believe things are getting better.

Thank you! Definitely a possibility. It's just a question of how quickly the two guys want to come out of the closet. Eric is clearly ready to do so.

I had to laugh when Sherri said that TC wasn't gay when he was dating her and then Paul responded with "What did you do?" It's a perfectly human, if ignorant, comment that I almost expected from someone. I can just imagine Paul's expression when he asked the question... Regarding the reactoins, what we don't get to see is the percentage who are reacting negative. TC and Fletcher are representative of the supportive group of students (so far, we haven't been told of any others, but there may be some). The basketball team are representative of the "who cares?" group, with no reaction postive or negative. I'd like to think the majority of students are in this category. The negative reactions are representated by Paul and Ashley and all those calling names/shoving peiople into lockers, but we don't get a good idea of how many there are. Anything above zero is a concern, but the guys don't need to be careful about all students, just a small subset.

New Zealand has a transgender athlete competing in the Women's 90+kg weightlifting division. Needless to say, there are people who disagree with the decision to allow her to compete. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-08/laurel-hubbard-split-in-ranks-over-transgender-weightlifter/9626242

For those not in the know, the 2018 Commonwealth Games have started on the Gold Coast in Australia. The following "slightly" irrelevant articles are from one of the mainstream newspaper websites (News Ltd). I thought people would especially appreciate the first one, since it's by an openly gay reporter: James Weir recaps the Commonwealth Games 2018: Day 1 I'm not really sure what my favourite part is, though I fully understand his reaction to the mens artistic gymnastics... The second article from that website also has some touches of humour: ‘Biggest upset in Games history’ And from a more "serious" website, here's some history of past Commonwealth Games for those who may be ignorant: Commonwealth Games Weird and Wonderful Moments My favourite is the problems in 2010 in New Dehli with the drains being blocked by an average of 640 condoms per day...

I'd like to focus on the scene with Paul. While I know it happens, I've never really understood the logic that if you don't hate gays, you must be gay. Assuming Paul's homophobia is to hide his own attraction to Devin, I can see him lashing out to distract everyone from looking too closely at himself, but why doesn't anyone challenge him on the logic he's using? I like how TC and Fletcher are going to warn Stanley. We don't get any details of Fletcher in this chapter, but TC is listed as being one of the school's football players. It's nice to see his support, though we'll need to see how far it goes. As for Gordon, it's unclear how homophobic he is. He's a second-string basketball player, so he may be wanting to see Stanley, Charlie and Kevin go down so there's an opening for him to become a starter. He could be using Paul's homophobia as a means to an end. He may be homophobic, he may simply be unscrupulously ambitious, or he may be both. Let's wait and see.

Thank you, Daryl. I don't think there is higher praise an author can receive than to be told they've made a difference.

The widely fluctuating emotions are not unusual in a situation like this. We have Kevin and Cameron flipping from despair to laughter while at Coach Alston's house, as they go from worrying about what's going to happen to being able to be themselves. Kevin's mother is still recovering from the shock she's received and is going from partly accepting (her comments about she doesn't hate him) to rejecting the idea (her comments about Cameron being a bad influence). The one stable factor is Kevin's dad, but even he admited he struggled with the idea at first when he thought Devin may be gay. He's had a few years to get used to the idea and make up his mind. Devin and his wife haven't had anywhere nearly enough time to come to the same conclusion. Initial reactions can be bad, but that doesn't mean those reactions can't change. It's sad that sometimes they don't, but we should always encourage people to get past those first thoughts, just like Cameron's mum did in the previous chapter for Kevin's mum.

Everyone, please remember : everything is better with cookies Seriously, Cameron's mother is right, this time he has Kevin with him. He's not alone. Kevin's mother had the usual signs of grieving that can occur when someone receives such a big shock: denial, anger, and currently bargaining. Hopefully, she'll support Kevin, but even if she doesn't, Kevin has the support of not only the Lynchs, but also Stanley, Charlie and almost certainly, Coach Alston. He won't be alone.

Okay, this wasn't about West, but about West's ex, Peter. The relationships are getting complex, with Peter being friends with the daughter of the opposition leader as well as almost a younger brother to Will. And how could Peter, a native Canadian, mess up baseball and the Stanley Cup? Even I know the Stanley Cup is for hockey, and I'm Australian!

Nice flashback. I'm guessing the next few chapters will be about West and Will's father.

Okay, Will's father was promoted to Colonel. I don't think that was mentioned in any of the previous books. Somehow, the way West calmly mentioned Will's father being shot makes it seem more real. It's as if West isn't taking it emotionally, that he's been toughened to not feel any pain from the incident.

Intriguing start. What did the Major tell West before he died? We'll know soon, but we're already being dragged into the story.

Mysterious 'ghost' galaxy with no dark matter puzzles astronomers. http://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2018-03-29/galaxy-with-no-dark-matter-puzzles-astronomers/9596840

A good ending. Will is learning how to play 'the game' while maintaining his integrity, something rare for a politician. I enjoyed this story

Will definitely has the smarts to be a politician. But does he have too much integrity for the position?

I loved the debate and I wish it happened mote like that. I don't see an easy answer to the situation with Andrew. I hope Will finds a solution...

Love conquers blackmail. Now Will just needs to save Andrew, too.

Lovely, but I can't help thinking of the photo in the snow of Will and Andrew kissing. How will Marc react when it's made public?