Mattyboy

What are we calling the Rybalt-Slicky sub-plot ? Ryplums? Slickybalt? 😈👿

oh, fun! looking forward to it

I expect Rusty will excel at nailing Coolplums, but I hope he gets a good second-identity sorted out as well.

Hehehe so much fun that its RUSTY that says "“So, you wouldn’t be terribly upset if there were another version of me prancing around, doing stuff, while keeping his real identity a secret from the rest of the world?” What an excellent time to be a seller of cat-suits and ninja costumes. I hope Rusty can nail it with his fursona origin story rather than the scrambling mess that Slicky Coolplums (😈😈) emerged from.

It's not too late yet, John might be back just in time for the Jackson-Pollocking

You're darn right it was a good job 😈😈

"all them first times... or maybe not all of them." Of course it's not all of them: 😈👿 hasn't gotten past second base yet.

“You’re breaking my fucking heart.” "We could have talked to Scott" Yes, you goddamn could have talked to Scott, Jackson.😠 And sorted out in-state tuition while you were at it. Wonderful surprise at the trading post, Krista, and another great connection back to early chapter-days.

Interesting from Gus. I'm enjoying the slow reveal and development. Seems very early to let the new guy into the accounts payable systems, but very cool that Ben is smart and has found a way to make himself useful.

I mean, I'm literally not done yet. You can play with it later.

ahem!

Fun episode! And some serious progress! Unless August is keeping a big secret that doesn't quite seem to suit her, the SHIT accusation is provably wrong, and a college student having younger siblings is going to pretty believable for the Sunny Hill readership. And Rusty knows now that John's going to need some dealing with. And the whole road trip was good enough and real enough for Rusty (and Matty) to drop a lot of the façades that this is all "tutoring," or "helping" Also, excellent news that this road has many turns and miles ahead.

Wow, what a beautiful set of moments as Kenan and Asher figure out how to take care of each other while dealing with pain and trauma. I also really appreciate you delivering these in discrete episodes that have endings. Cliffhangers and teasers are fun, but the last couple of chapters delivered such a punch that some closure at the end is better (or I liked it that way, any how).

I'm pretty sure Luke is getting lucky tonight, but I think he has something else in mind.

Well, that's creepy and powerful and yay for Ash getting out of there. The story has been hinting at something like this since the beginning, but that's quite an unveiling. 🔥🔥🔥

Well done, Luke! 👏👏👏 What a fun, weird, tense, happy prom night (well, the first half of it, anyhow). I get that this story is in Jackson's POV, and he won't be there to hear it, but I'd really like to be a fly-on-the-wall for Welker's talk with Cindy about teachers assaulting students at the prom.

Gabriel's day seems to portend all kinds of angst and fun. And this development with Zooey ! Will we hear more over cake? Is it anyone Matty now knows?

Works for me, Georgia. Sure, it's a big school with a big team, but new-coach-needs-some-bodies happens all the time. And Jackson seems like he's pretty good at this swimming stuff, if in a raw-but-can-grow-way. And for the story it works great, that it's not impossible, but it's something good and nice, rather more so than that Cindy can get away with sneering at it.

I wanted to post a longer, more analytic comment, because that's my thing. This is beautiful. Thank you for sharing the story. 🔥🔥🔥

I really liked this from Aiden, seemed very human and natural. Earlier, he was being a dick because he thought he could get away with it, but now Jackson and Charlie and Shay and Tara have formed a friend group, and he's not in it and has no power in particular. (and Jackson and maybe Charlie are getting attention from a high-prestige coach, so maybe behaving well looks like the way to go) So he's behaving better, really just in an "ordinary teammate" way, but he's smartened up about how far fuckery can get him. Frankly, I was wondering (hoping) what would happen if Tony saw Cindy hassling one of his swimmers on a nutrition break. That must have been annoying for Cindy to see Jackson succeeding (at least in part because of hard work) in a venue where a bunch of people clearly valued him. But she would not have been ready for Tony swinging into action (mm, I guess it's not Tony's pool, but still... he would not have been Ok with that)

Wow, this really is the Best Year! The scene of Jackson taking care of business at the pool was great. And the offer arrived and the prom is happening! And Cindy has been managed! (so far) Loved the reference way back to episode 1 and the gym-sliding incident. It's a sign of the year coming full circle, but a beautiful touch of writing. Go go L & J!

With apologies to Dave Loggins... 😈 "Ramblin' boys, we better settle that Doha ain't your kind of cat There ain't no plums, and they ain't nobody like Matt the number one man for the king of Sunny Hill"

I feel this story, as much as it's about cute teen and heartache, is sort of in a mythic register as well. Tyler and Ariel will always be pushing that rock up their side of the hill, never reaching to top at the same time. (Ariel's side looks a lot more churned up, for some reason)

Think mundi