Mattyboy

And some banger sentences as well: "The whole school felt hushed now, like the moments after a thunderstorm when everything is still and waiting." "Jonah, climbed right into my lap like a squirrel with zero self-awareness." "Equality means everyone. We belong here.”

I didn't quite get why this story was titled "Swing for the Fences" as it hasn't had much baseball in it, but this is it, isn't it?

Do Gray and Vince get to pick the charity? If so they could sell it to the Reserve for any amount and the Reserve could afford it as they'd be expecting a large donation for the same amount. There'd be some wastage on fees and stuff but feels like there's a deal there.

This was a lovely moment but, yeah, Finley didn't quite get to the "how'd you feel about being my hoard?" conversation.

I agree completely. Yeah, I dunno about the wording of Michigan law on this either. I agree that usually it'd be hard to find a prosecutor for the Nick/Jack situation, especially since they could clam up and there were no reliable witnesses. But Dr Kincaid put Mr G into legal jeopardy when she told him that she had an expectation that serial statutory rapes were about to commence, and that he ought to reinforce her how-to-rape-safely counsel (but not prevent them). Before that, Mr G had a solid legal defense available to him - that he didn't listen to or believe every rumour that floated about the common room, and hadn't witnessed anything illegal - and he lost the use of that defense when a parent informed him to expect criminal behavior, and he acted on that information. Dr Kincaid thought it was the best way to parent the boys, but she does not know Jack's parents, and she does not know whether or not Karen goes to church with the DA (who could be a recently elected red-hatter out get themselves into the national news). Mr. G could wind up not just fired but listed on a sex offender registry for counselling and abetting statutory rape. That would be a moral and legal outrage, but not beyond the reach of the most malignant DA that could exist in Michigan.

It's barely adequate. She didn't mention the potential threat to Jack, so neither she nor the school can legally stop Jack's parents from yanking him back to California.

I understand why you'd say this, but I don't see Karen as a hypocrite. She knew what she was doing and her plan's worked pretty well so far. The cruelty was the point.

I am 20% over being furious with Nick's Mom. She's supposed to be an expert and a board certified physician at all, and she could not goddamn imagine that anti-gay prejudice and violence exists. This was criminally stupid and arrogant of her. She's a mandatory reporter and medical authority, and she can't even conceive that being outed to school admin might be bad for the boys or that the school might then be legally obliged to out Jack to his parents, when she knew that he had a very bad home situation. It was fun for her - I guess - to make Jack and Nick squirm, though. However she got over herself and did a fraction of what might be required to repair the damage, and reduce the chance of the last ten chapters of this story being Jack's wake. Maybe it was a good idea to omit from the letter that Jack is in mortal danger from his violently abusive parents because of this, but I hope she speaks to the Dean about that. Christian's "starve them of ammunition" strategy is a very good one, I think.

That's the feature that unites Joel's parents and Davin's - they're completely indifferent to whether their children are flourishing. Joel's mother is the most malignant, but it's neglect in each case. And again, all the cards are face up in front of Joel now, I hope he can start figuring it out soon. And he should call Cody.

Yes, very bleak. Maybe Joel will see it as an opening though, Davin's shared with him and has his own stuff going on. And seems pretty clear Davin wants a friend and is prepared to accept some weirdness as it goes. Although Joel could barely relax in the hot tub; a lot of that seemed to have a "just barely started" feel to it. It's interesting, when we met the Keplers I kinda though they were at the Connley's because they needed the work, not because they needed friends and family.

Yes about Mom, even if it's embarrassing. For Jack's parents, I don't think the big issue is that they might send him to a school-not-of-his-choosing, it's that they might beat him to death.

I'm really glad I know about the 23 chapters. I didn't get it about Mr G until Christian explained, but yes, the worst case scenario (as @drsawzall outlines) is that Jack's parents pull him from school and destroy him offstage. I figured that G basically knew that. Maybe Jack and Nick can be separated but room with Mark and Emery or something. That would be bad for them emotionally but not complete disaster.

That'd be cool. It's been fun for me to act up about Matt in the comments because of my forum-name, but I think there's something there. These were written before there was much public awareness (especially in places like South Carleton, but not just there) about identities like pan, or omni, or Achillean. In this story, Matt's bit of "I'm not gay, but I like my boyfriend's cock" is mostly comic, but there could be some nuanced exploring what that means for him in Edmonton. Matt as a character isn't trapped by too many obvious hang-ups and neuroses, but he hasn't fully matured and figured himself out, because he's still young.

Yeah, that was a bad end, but it seemed that Hugo and Jimmy spent a while being good to each other, and good for each other, but it wasn't built to last.

Well, if you're willing to risk a total protonic reversal, cross as you please.

Don't cross the memes!

Thank you, I though I knew this, but I was thinking about Mike from Canmore.

I'm seeing a "no Tiger shorts in the pool" rule getting drafted in short order, thinking by-the-pants, as it were.

The bros seem to know how to operate their pretty nice house. We didn't pick up from the beginning how bored they probably are out on their rural road - they've got a chance to hang out with new guy, and they're going for it!

Yeah, I feel this. Joel's really not in touch with himself. The "scared-of-everything" dynamic for a teen who isn't ready to come out is believable enough, but Joel's inability to assess his situation is getting weird. If he's blind to social dynamics, I don't get why he'd be worried. If he's not, the path is clear. There haven't been very many days in the timeline so far, I feel Krista may still be in a "showing us" phase although the readers have already been well set up for a bit of narrative advancement. I kinda get the part that Joel hasn't come terms with the fact that he's probably quit his old baseball team. I hope this works out to be an opportunity, especially in combo with a night at the Keplers. That Dad is punishing Westley by making him call, but wouldn't come on the phone himself (and Cody wasn't in the room) is all the information Joel needs about what's going on in Temp-town, and he's able to articulate (woah!) to Celia that he doesn't want to go back to his old school. So it's high time he stops saying that he doesn't know what he's going to do.

That's interesting that the Keplers seem to feel a bit abandoned by their parents as well. That was a fun entendre about showing Joel a good time!

Marty seems very interested in Aunt Hanna- that's come up before, hasn't it ? Marty's knows Hanna from somewhere? Could Marty and Peter be distant cousins?

The way this chapter worked out with Nick having Jack in his arms (and being really sure he's done with Noah) and wanting Jack, but holding back, did make me think that maybe there was something very bad in Nick's backstory that we didn't know about yet. So yeah, maybe you are overthinking that about Nick, but I'm there too.

The flip side of those tuition fees is that Phillips has an endowment of way over a billion dollars (as does many of its peers). Their classes are curated so they have a mix of athletes and scholars and musical kids). If they want you as a student. money isn't a problem.

Also, old Ottawa families that own stuff downtown cuz their ancestors did is a thing. It's rare, but not as rare as you'd think because they don't yap about it too much.