RichardWrites

What a nice ending. Happy birthday to Joel and Cody. Joel turned 18 and Cody is now 11. A lot happened in this final chapter, so I’ll do my best to cover most of it. Cody is so adorable. I’m glad he had fun at the party and Lacy is a new friend for him. And the Joey nickname is just too cute lmao. I know Cody is close to Joel from him getting brought up a lot in the narrating and the dialogue, but it’s very sweet that Joel looks out for him. I was thinking Joel and Cody should be texting, but Cody is probably too young for a cell phone. But in a year or 2 he’ll be old enough to have a cell phone and catch up with Joel while Joel is in college somewhere. Gavin finally talked to Joel about things and had figured him out from spending time with Davin and sneaking around. I do give Gavin credit though he figured out Davin before everyone else by a few years. I’m pretty sure Colt, Celia, and Trace don’t know Davin was gay. Davin had a suspicion that Gavin knew, but I guess this confirms it since the twins never had a specific talk about it. We figured out why Colt doesn’t want to go into ranching. He’d rather go to Nashville and be a musician. I guess he hasn’t told his parents about that dream. Lorianne figured things out on her own, but I guess she thought Roel (Roy x Joel) was a thing. The kiss on the cheek I saw it coming. She’s had a little crush on Joel since early on it seems. I’m glad Mr Benton gave Joel the savings from his closed Tempton bank account. I was expecting an appearance from Mrs Benton, but clearly she’s as cold as Francine. Westley is unchanged still the same jerk from chapter 1. He could of at least waited to get the wrapped up food in the car I’m sure he would have wanted some cake lol. Celia and Trace are great as always. Making Cody feel welcome and sticking up for their new adopted son when Francine gets rude about things. A little shocked whrn Joel spilled all the tea to Francine, when he wasn’t willing to with anyone else except Trace, who had saved him on that bridge back in Tempton. i was kinda expecting one last confrontation from Jax but hopefully he’s learned his lesson to not pick on the new guy in town. Only one thing remains…….. Who is Colt’s song about?!?! Anyways this was a good story. See ya around everyone.

June 16, 2018, Whalebone, Mass. I had nailed in the last nail on the new deck for the beach house before wiping the sweat from my face. Jake and I were helping Mr. Grant replace the deck after several winter storms broke the old one due to coastal flooding. I grabbed my tank top and hung it on my shoulder before Jake helped me up. The project had taken a few days of working, but I was getting some pay and a good workout out of it. Jake did a lot of the screwdriver stuff since he has smalle

Interesting, I guess I have to give tne characters different accents in my mind now because I guess I let my biases think it was the south. Flat rural corn belt midwest makes sense too though. Would be places like Kansas/Nebraska/Iowa/Illinois/Indiana. Montana I guess would fit the ranching vibe but not flat out there with 12-thousand-foot mountain peaks in the rockies.

So apparently this was the second to last chapter according to some of the comments. Hard to believe this is nearly over. Gonna get one last major thought I have had for a while out of the way before the end. If it has already been addressed at some other time, then I’m sorry. There’s been so many comments it’s hard to keep track of and read them! Lol So in stories, like this one, where no state is mentioned for the setting, I like to try and guess what state/area the setting is (yeah I guess I am strange) We did get some town/county names: Fletcher County, and Tempton, which is in Johnston County. Doing Google searches, there is no Fletcher County in the US (a bit of a surprise there) and no towns named Tempton (but there are cities called Templeton). But there is a Johnston County in North Carolina. Based on other things in the story, it does seem like this is set in the south, so North Carolina isn’t an unreasonable guess for where these characters live.

Yes, the principal is very biased. The reform school involves students from some of the other schools in the district/county/region so maybe some of the other principals are probably also biased. It's another one of those mostly preppy New England towns. Aedan does have behavioral problems sometimes, but he has improved and should have gotten off this time. At least one of the other reform school students did deserve to be there, but yeah they sent Aedan back to his normal school after a week of good behavior. At least he and Jake repaired their friendship and are off to high school next year. And we'll have to see what happens with Bailey who apparently has some interest in Jake romantically.

Oliver's parents are Catholic so they're not too fond of premarital sex. And his mom is super against gay sex so double dislike from her. lol Oliver will have to be more sneaky spending time with Cody. At least they can talk at school between classes or at their lunch period. They don't have any classes together though, since Cody is in multiple honors/AP classes and Oliver is not. Not sure if the dad had done anything before marriage. His opinions on it might also be different now that he's over 40 vs when he was a teenager long ago. As for Toby, if he has done anything with one of his girlfriends, he hasn't gotten caught and he never told his brother about it. Oliver was just assuming that he might have done something. Eggplant and banana mean the same thing in this context haha. I guess I should have been more consistent.

Joel already seems to have some admirers lined up. Lorianne, the Ames Twins, and apparently also Lance xD. At least Joel knows he could probably come out to his friends at the “gay table” at lunch. They’d be supportive about it. Jax was being friendly-ish for once, and hopefully they can just agree to stay away from each other. But I’m assuming Jax is going to pull some stupid thing again. And then there’s the birthday party coming up too.

April 2 2018 I closed the door to my locker and was about to walk to ELA class, when I overheard some voices several lockers to my right. “What a spoiled little faggot... Your punk friend lives with you in your big fancy ass mansion. And you play with frisbees every day,” Kevin was harassing Jake at his locker! Yeah, Jake’s been a jerk to me for the last few weeks, but I ain’t just gonna let him get bullied. “Hey! Leave him alone!” I walked up. The football player laughed. “Yo

October 4 2019 “It looks like Cody Hafer, Number 46, from the Jasper County Wolverines, is running towards the end zone from the 21 yard line! Incredible! Hafer makes his first touchdown of the Fall 2019 season! And the final touchdown for the Wolverines homecoming game!” I stood up and cheered for my boyfriend, with Logan next to me doing the same. I don’t know much about football, nor did I have any skill at the sport, but I came to games when I could to support Cody, especially no

Last week's version had 3 comments. I will re-type them here so you guys don't have to re-comment your thoughts. @chris191070 said: Aedan seems to be having a rough time at the moment @weinerdogsaid: GF/BF breaking up and best friends falling out? I know it's middle school but the reasons here are so lame. Me quote-replying to the 2 above: Yeah, he's been acting like a bit of a player after his breakup. Jake has expressed being a little envious of Aedan before, so we'll see. Aedan might be jumping to conclusions again. It's likely not enough to permanently end their friendship, though. Rather just a fight/disagreement of sorts. It's 8th grade so BF/GF relationships are relatively un-serious at this point (as Jake pointed out), even if the characters don't see it that way in the moment. He's got a bit of a point about her snooping in his private sketch book, though. Even if he acted a bit irrationally.

Sunday Feb 11 2018 I was sitting on my bed practicing drawing in anime style and listening to music on my pear phone with earbuds. In the middle of drawing, I stood up to use the bathroom. When I came back a few minutes later, Violet was in my room and she was looking at my drawings. “Hey! What’re you doin’ in here?” I shut the sketch book and tried to shove her out. “I was just returning those colored pencils I borrowed,” my older sister raised up her hands in defeat and handed me y

We haven't seen Oliver in academic settings too much. But he does struggle a lot in school. In chapter 6, he was struggling on a chemistry test to the point where he just had to guess. He has certain things he is interested in that might naturally come easier to him. School just doesn't come easily to him, while it does for Toby and Cody. He does enough to pass in (most of) his classes. He's uncertain about his abilities to get accepted into college based on that, while Cody has a lot more options open to him in that way. Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses at the end of the day.

August 26 2019 I walked into the kitchen with a yawn as I absently scratched my bare chest. “Mornin’ mom, dad.” I opened the fridge for some breakfast. “Oliver, you aren’t dressed yet?!” Mom asked. “Uh, no?” I shrugged, pouring some milk into a cup. “I’ll throw on a t-shirt before I leave.” Mom gave me a death glare. “You and your brother are going to need to dress nicely for pictures. It’s your last first day of school and I need to get cute pictures for the scrapbook!”

Jacy’s whole world kind of crumbled down in this chapter. Skye is a bit of a player. Maybe he’s into open relationships? A very explosive confrontation with Aunt Daisy. I should have seen it coming. Might leave Michael in a tough spot whether to stay or go with his brother to live with Aunt Lilly or Grandpa Fletcher.

Interesting and unique story. Seeems like Jacy has some sort of spiritual/psychic gift. Possibly inherited through the family if any of his ancestors had spiritual/mystical roles in the community. Other people at the pow wow event might know more about his “gifts”. I’m glad Jacy wants to learn more about his history with the school project instead of just half-assing it for a passing grade. His dad’s side of the family tree might be more of a mystery though if they’re all passed away now.

@Weinerdog got it correct, yes. I did post the chapter before some time in 2024, but I didn't like the way the story was going and ended up rewriting some chapters and inserting new ones so the staff of the website suggested restarting new. This was one of the chapters that didn't change much. An earlier, unposted draft of the story had a more tense dynamic between Cody and Oliver, with Cody being more upset about Oliver being jealous, but it didn't feel like it was in character for him to be that way. Yup, the 4 main boys are starting senior year in high school in the next chapter now that Cody is back from living with grandparents in Montana. Some interesting new interactions up ahead.

August 23 2019 The Friday before school started in senior year was the day for signups for fall sports at Jasper County High School. Cody was outside for football while I was a volunteer in the gym helping everyone sign in. I unfortunately wasn’t in the line Cody was in so I didn’t get to see him. He was in Tyler’s line actually. I was thankful I was indoors and not outside, where it was blazing hot under the August sun, despite being morning. I was dressed in a t-shirt with its sleeves cu

A lighthearted chapter. Glad to see Joel fitting in better. His interactions with Colt and Lacy feel like Joel is just another sibling to them now. Davin inviting Joel back to his house should be interesting. A bit odd he isn’t showering after riding the horse through the creek water, though. Might not be the best smell for a date with Davin.

He did have a busy couple of days. A fun NBA game with his friend, an expensive jersey, a smartphone, making out with his girlfriend, and playing basketball at school. Jake’s dad is British so I tried some British slang, hence “quid”. Maybe I used it wrong lol but it’s a nearly 200 dollar jersey. Jake’s allowance maybe isn’t a thousand bucks but it’s probably a lot more than what Aedan would have been getting as his allowance before moving into Jake’s home. A bit sad that Jake only has one real friend. He’s probably had other people try to be friends with him only because he’s rich.

January 21 2018 Boston, Massachusetts I climbed out of the back seat of Jake’s dad’s Jeep. Tomorrow, I was turning fourteen, and as a gift to me, Jake took me to an NBA game. Jake and his dad were in Boston Celtics shirts while I had on a navy blue hoodie from my middle school basketball team. I was super excited because I have never been to an NBA game before, as tickets were so expensive. “Dude, you’re gonna get assaulted for wearing that...” Jake laughed, teasing me. “Navy blue

Yup, Logan was being very petty the last 7 chapters because his crush didn't have the same feelings for him. Toby kept his promise and didn't tell Oliver about it, even if Oliver was slow and took him a while to figure it out. As for Cody, we'll have to see why he isn't responding. He is in a very remote location as well, so he may not have great cell service out there. Or, yeah the phone could also be damaged. Yeah, Oliver was maybe a little bit hypocritical. He immediately got jealous seeing Cody with another guy on Instagram. And, yes fajitas are amazing. Oliver is lucky to have a Mexican family living next door. Yup. He wanted Oliver to get jealous at the picture on Cody's Instagram page. Logan knew what he was doing. Oliver gave him that kiss he wanted, so hopefully Logan was satisfied and can move on, being friends with the other guys again.

Jake knows Aedan is Bi, so Aedan is into girls as well as other boys. He’s been on and off with Nina for a bit. The characters in this story are quite young in eighth grade. Most people that age probably haven’t had their first kiss yet, so seeing two of their friends kissing might be a bit of a surprise to them. At least Aedan got to visit his relatives in Tennessee for Christmas as well.

June 24 2019 Summers for Toby and I were never as relaxed as we wanted them to be. We always had activities to keep us busy, so at least I was never bored during summer like some teens are in cities. We took our final ACT and SAT tests last week to have for college applications in fall. And we were taking the last bit of driver’s ed at the local DMV this summer. Well, the last bit for me. Toby still will have 6 more weeks to make up after this summer. He’s way busier than I am in summer and

Dec 24 2017 Alcorn, Tennessee I was outside playing in the snow with my cousins. There was a nice hill for sledding in the park across the street from Gran’s house. Gran is my great grandma. The grandma of both my parents. She had recently turned 85 years old and a lot of my extended family lived in Alcorn and so Christmas was spent here most years. Last Christmas we spent in the townhouse up in Connecticut, as we had just moved in and couldn’t afford a trip. When I lived in Tenness

Gavin kissing Joel's cheek?! Maybe Davin isn't the only non-straight person in the family? XD At the party field, Joel doesn't have those teachers to intervene, so maybe more punches will be thrown if Jax decides to continue harassing the "traitor" who is now committed to be a Warhawk on the baseball field.