Graeme

K.C mentions readers saying that they hated a story. I think there needs to be a distinction between hating a story, and hating what is happening in a story. I can remember one story that I couldn't read past chapter one. It wasn't because the story was bad -- it was extremely well written by a well established author. It was because I found the content so disturbing that I didn't want to read any further. Indeed, the story was so well written that I couldn't distance myself from it, so I had to give up. And for the benefit of anyone who missed the earlier blog entry: Constructive Criticism: Part I

Just to clarify, it's not possible for an AFL team to bring in new people partway through a season. The end of the season (October through to December) is the only time they are able to add people to their playing list. They can negotiate before then, but changes only take place in that window. Teams can drop players at any time, but they can't add new ones. Instead, they have what is called a rookie list. That's a list of players who are able to be elevated to the senior team at any time, but only to replace someone who has either been taken off the senior list or has been placed on a long-term injury list. Again, players can only be added to the rookie list during that same October-December window. This is why recruiting has become such a big thing for the AFL clubs. They only get a limited chance to get it right, and then they have to live with those decisions for the entire season before they can bring in anyone new.

An astute observation: up until know Neil's mother hasn't featured very much. Are his perceptions of her correct? I won't comment too much on your other points except to say that you're not too far off the mark with some of them

The team you're thinking of is Collingwood. They're the one with the gay & lesbian supporters group, the Pink Magpies. Having said that, the AFL team that Alan works for hasn't been mentioned by name. Thanks for the rest of the comments, too, but I'll avoid commenting on them because I don't want to give out spoilers for future chapters

“Neil! How was your night out?” Mrs. Rosewood dried her hands as she moved away from the sink. “It was great, Mum.” Neil couldn’t help smiling. “I had a fantastic time.” “That’s excellent!” She gave him a hug and a kiss on his cheek. “I’m really glad. It’s about time you starting going out with your friends.” The opportunity was too good for Neil to pass up. “Some of the guys are going to a football game this afternoon. They wanted to know if I was going, too.” “What did you tell them?” “I

:joe: Happy Birthday, Louis! :joe:

:joe: Happy Birthday, Emoe! :joe:

There are a lot of cool people in the story, but if you add it up, it takes a lot of cool people to balance out the ones that aren't cool.

Randy can be rather mature for his age at times Nice catch on the overly protective brother part. David was receiving the attention he would give to anyone he saw as a threat to Randy. Chris is more laid back, but his attitude to his parents when it comes to Scott shows the same protectiveness.

No, there's no easy way to deal with things like that

Wanting someone to blame is very human. Given that the conversation just before Scott came out was about Adam, she's probably just come to a logical conclusion.

It was a tough decision for Chris. I'd hate for anyone to be forced into making that sort of decision in real life, though I know it happens No worries about all the reviews. It's the morning here in Australia

Sister Brenda's one of my favourite characters

Justice isn't always done, but if enough people strive for it, it usually happens

Life isn't always bad news. If you look for it, there are things to be smile about everywhere.

Sadly, I have to admit having played in a basketball team that used racially abusive terms when referring to aboriginal players in another team. It was only amongst ourselves, but I didn't have the confidence to call them on it. Brendan's part of my personal apology for that incident.

Don't forget that Randy is only fourteen. He has a facade of maturity that comes from confidence in himself, but if you crack that confidence, you crack the maturity, too.

Details matter. You can object to someone's opinion. That doesn't give you the right to punch them (for example) as a way of expression your objection. The objection has to be made in an appropriate way. Inappropriate objections simply escalate matters. That's why the school did what they did.

Hopefully, David's concerns for Randy have been fairly consistent through the story up to this point. Yes, he's very protective of his younger (though bigger) brother.

More fun or just easier? Opportunity, motive, means...the traditional three requirements for a crime. We can guess that the motive would apply equally to both Randy and Adam, so which one gets targeted could be based on the other two requirements.

I had hoped that most people would find Randy's predicament amusing.

He's learning. Slowly, but he's learning

Now that you have more information, was Scott's initial reaction really a bad one, or more just that one someone who was scared? He appeared as homophobic, but that's not the only interpretation for his actions at the time

People tend to do stupid things and then often try their hardest to refuse to admit that they were stupid. David's quite normal in that respect.

David's not a bad person. He feels alone, even though he also knows he's not, but he's still concerned for his friends. Apart from Adam, of course.