methodwriter85

This was so dead-on and I loved how much it captured about the experience. 28 Ways You Know You Went To A Performing Arts High School Some things they missed: 29. If you were in a school production, you were able to get out of class on the days they had school matinees. 30. Rent and Wicked were referenced by people ad nausea. 31. Being that the school was 1 guy to every 3 girls, if you were a fairly good looking straight guy, you were suddenly the school stud. 32. If someone walked into school wearing drag, you wouldn't be surprised. 33. If you found two guys or two girls making out, you wouldn't be surprised. 34. If your teacher or high schoool principal was openly gay, you wouldn't be surprised. 35. You didn't know it wasn't normal to randomly break out into a song until you went off to college.

It'll be interesting to see if that changes as Will gets older. He very much sees things in black and white, probably even more than Brad did as a teenager. Hopefully as he grows up he's start to see the grey and stop thinking that people are either all right or all wrong. I think Will really does believe in social justice like Tonto did. I just don't think he's been around enough to really get it. I would have thought that the homeless shelter might have been enough for Will, but if you noticed, he only really related to the guys that were cute and he was attracted to. Maybe Will can do a semester abroad in Haiti or something in college and get some real perspective on the whole thing? Or spend a spring break working with Habitat for Humanity? It really was an eye-opening experience. And my friends who did their study abroad in a 3rd world country said they were changed forever. As for JJ...I feel like you're setting him up for an eventual classic "rich snob meets blue-collar hottie and falls madly in love" story with all the bits about how elitist he is. If said blue-collar hottie looks like circa 2006 Channing Tatum in Step Up, I'm all for it. LOL. I'd recommend the same kind of character building volunteer work/missions for him, but I really can't see JJ doing any of that. Will, yes. JJ- his idea of sacrifice would be shopping at the Claremont Outlet Shoppes and actually wearing an outfit from there.

My vote would be for Chris Mears. I'm probably wrong, but damn it, they're so cute together.

Yeah, you wish.

Thanks for the comments, guys. They mean a lot. I hope you guys got a 3-dimensional portrait of Steve, and that he seemed real to you. I didn't want this to come off as a typical eulogy, full of platitudes and niceties. Because that boils Stephen down into some 2-d, stock character instead of the very complicated and very real person that he was. I'd never met anyone like Steve in my life before, and I don't think I'll ever meet someone like him again.

That is an incredibly good and persuasive analysis, and I'd love to read Claire saying as much to Will, similar to how Claire chastised Brad for his rant at Jim in Millennium. I really want Mark's thoughts on this, because you're pointing at something that kind of contradicts what Mark has set up as a "truth" to Will's character- that while he and Brad are both massive control freaks, the difference is that Will is a massive control freak about himself, and doesn't try to interfere/control other people's lives.

Well, James, Daley is technically on the bisexual team. So, go bisexuals!

I hope you got that my "shocked" comment couldn't have been more sarcastic.

Okay, so this isn't exactly about CAP, but I thought it brought up themes that we've talked about in terms of JJ, and how he needs to maintain a family-friendly, Disney image because those who don't (like Johnny Weir) often get punished in the sport. Joe Jonas: My Life As A Jonas Brother I thought it was interesting- the tension between being a teenager/early 20-something and all the hormones and urges that go into that age, and having to seem like a sexless, purity ring type because that's what your adoring public expects out of you. It was funny that Joe all but said, "I lost my virginity at 20, but my virginity was incredibly technical", which often seems like the case for the "abstinence" types. It also got me when he talked about having to be around watching his friend Demi Lovato implode on herself, but not being able to convey any of it to anybody because he had a "brand" to protect. It'll be interesting to see what happens to JJ when he moves into the 17-19 range...right now he doesn't seem to be chafing against the "good boy" image all that much yet (we haven't seen JJ so much as drink a beer yet), but I wonder what happens in a few years.

I am shocked. SHOCKED.

I thought he was perfectly cast as a 1950's All American teen dream boat in Pleasantville.

I seriously couldn't get over the raging hypocrisy here- they give out cars like party favors, and they're going to bitch at Will for doing it? Brad got "Sergio" a car without even knowing his last name or that he was biological family. It's right up there with how Stefan didn't like Will being friends with Kai because he might be a hustler. Stefan, who was literally an old pro whore at the age of 16. My problem with Tony is that he's just so generic. He's Italian-American Hot Jock Rich Boy Who's A Raging Closetcase. Tony feels like one of those dime-a-dozen bros that you met in college.There are no interesting quirks about him, or fun personality traits to him like there was to Matt or the many much more interesting characters in CAP. Characters like Matt and Cody leaped off the page in bright colors from the word "go". The only thing Tony has going for him as a character is being a legacy character and having the tragic backstory of having his father die from AIDS when he was 3 years old. He's been in a general holding pattern as a character through three stories, and I really, really hope that this means that Tony is finally going to develop into something more interesting than what he's been now that he's openly admitting he's gay. Maybe he'll get really into theater or something. ANYTHING so that he's more interesting than Italian-American Hot Jock Rich Boy Who's A Raging Closetcase. I do like Gathan. I'm glad to see that he's growing up. You could definitely see the beginnings of a really good man in Poor Man's Son, and I'm glad to see that he's starting to fulfill that.

Will is rarely if ever called on his bullshit. I really, really hope that the guy that Will falls in love with does that for him, because he needs it, badly. (Which is why I can't root for Tony, because Tony can't really seem to engage in toe-to-toe banter with Will.) It would be interesting if JJ did notice that. For a guy that's pretty self-involved, he can also be pretty damn observant when he wants to be. The line about the price you have to pay for Brad's deep love really sticks out to me, because it's so true.

Chapter 55 -When Will and Tony...mend fences. "Outside" by Staind

I get the feeling that Mark wanted to pick a school in the Greater New York City area, so that it's possible that when Will does go to visit, he can take advantage of that great condo that the family has. Having Zach in close proximity gives Will a reason to hit up the greater New York area. (Will did basically say that he wanted to watch Zach play, right?) Although damn to the lost opportunity with Colt Brennan. God, that guy is fucking hot. (I checked out the NFL alumni from Don Bosco and none of them looked nearly as yummy.)

In college, I had a friend named Stephen R. I actually had a lot of friends named Stephen, but he was honestly my favorite one. We met one afternoon in Kent Dining Hall at the University of Delaware at the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year. I was eating lunch, and this tall, lanky blond kid who was pale as fuck asked if he could eat lunch with me. We ate lunch, then we hung out in his room. Stephen had this small single at the top of Sussex/Squire Hall. We got high, then spent the day walking aimlessly around Newark, Delaware's Main Street, before we ate burgers in the Korner Diner, this greasy spoon that was a wonderful cross-section of humanity before it closed down in 2008. I laughed my ass off as we ate shitty burgers, and 21-year old me didn't know it then, but I had started what would become one of the most meaningful friendships I would ever have in my life. We spent that fall '07 semester building a friendship, just hanging out, getting high or drunk, and the typical shenanigans of 21-year old college students. Steve and I couldn't have been any more different- he was this laidback, genius but apathetic stoner from northern New Jersey who liked just hanging in his dorm and talking, while I was this perky, nerdy Delaware kid who worshiped at the altar of a good rager. We'd always have dinner together, and often lunch as well. I lived in Smyth, which was just a short walk over from his dorm, which made it easy for us to hang out all the time. One night, at a party, on Cleveland Avenue, I wound up coming out to him. I kept bugging him and this other guy to kiss, because I had become immensely fascinated with watching straight guys kiss in YouTube videos, and wanted to see it in real life. That's (no brainer) when Steve asked if I was gay, I said yeah, and he told me, "Alright then. That's cool." As we walked back home from the party, two guys walked up to us, and asked if the girl that was with them was fuckable. I said, "I wouldn't know, because I only fuck guys." The looks on their faces was hilarious, and Steve and I just laughed as we continued walking back to our dorms on South Green. Steve was the first straight guy friend I ever had that I was totally open with, and he'd have this habit of telling people that I was gay so I wouldn't have to, because as Stephen basically put it, "People won't have a problem with you being gay if you don't have one, man. It's not a big deal so don't treat it that way." That was the thing about Steve- he was entirely comfortable in his own skin, while I was this jumpy kid who felt like he had to flit from role to role in order to get people to like me. I learned to relax and become comfortable with myself because of him. When I got hospitalized for depression around my 22nd birthday, Steve was the only one who cared enough to try and call me in there. I'd never had that before- someone that I knew would always have my back no matter what. This was reiterated to me a few months later, when we had our first, and pretty much only fight- at 21/22 I had this habit of liking to call people drunk, otherwise known as "drunk dialing". I thought it was hilarious. But Steve didn't think so, especially when I did it at 2 or 3 a.m., and he called me back and said, "Don't call me anymore." I was pretty hurt, and I felt like I had screwed up a really good friendship, like I always did. Imagine my surprise when Steve called me up a day or two later, and we apologized to each other and the friendship continued. Don't get me wrong- Stephen wasn't perfect. Far from it. He could be a pretty arrogant son of a bitch at times. It often annoyed me how Steve wasn't into going to the big ragers at UD because he preferred smaller, more intimate crowds, which exasperated my wannabe "party king" self. Steve also had this really annoying habit of dictating what we did when we hung out. If Steve didn't want to do something or go somewhere, he flat out wouldn't do it. For example, I wanted to watch Waiting for a movie night, and Steve basically said "Fuck that" and we saw Alpha Dog instead. Steve could be brutally honest with you if you annoyed him, and if he didn't like you, he did very little to hide it. Steve was also very disdainful of school, and often talked about how he couldn't wait to get out, start his career, and make money. His general apathy about college could get me pretty annoyed, especially because I was of the "This is college, let's live college life to the fullest!" mindset, and hanging out with him watching TV in his Dorm while drinking didn't seem like it. But I also knew that I had a friend who would stand by me, and his brutal honesty had a way of keeping me on my toes and learning how to regulate my social behavior with people. In 2009, I came back to University of Delaware to finish out my last 3 semesters, and that's when I met Steve's group of residents- Ian, James, Justin, Anthony, and Tony. Ian was this chill as shit redhead stoner from Vermont- basically, Steve's brother from another mother. James was this pint-sized, bulked up conservative guy who was basically born to become a frat boy. (I was apparently the first gay friend he ever had.) Justin was the Jew from Rhode Island- this guy who was totally innocent at the start of college who had been corrupted by Steve with the copious amounts of weed they smoked. Anthony was this Long Island musician, while Tony was this quirky hipster type with a keen interest in working with university admissions as a student guide. We all became friends because of Steve. I had never had a tight group of friends like that before- I have always been more of a floater who hovers close by but never actually gets in. I remember watching St. Elmo's Fire when I was in 12th grade, and thinking, "Wow, I want a tight group of friends like that!" But that was a movie, and my over-eagerness to have a tight group of friends freshmen year actually had the opposite effect of turning off a lot of people. But my senior year of college, I did, and it just happened. It didn't look like what I had pictured- I had thought of big trips, big moments, high drama, big parties, and lots of maudlin, sentimental moments, like on Beverly Hills 90210 or something. It wasn't like that at all- mainly just college boys sitting around a dorm, drinking, and talking about our lives. Well, okay, there were some big ragers in there such as the '09 Skidfest Soapbox Puke Incident, too..And there was also swine flu, but luckily no major catastrophes. In the summer of '09, Steve and I were both taking summer session. He had this big-ass dorm on Ray Street to himself, and we spent that summer basically getting drunk in his dorm after class while watching re-runs of That 70's Show. We actually celebrated his 23rd birthday that summer...it was a fun summer. It was great not having to pass out on his floor since there was an extra bed, and I met more summer buddies through him. On weekend nights, we'd smoke pot and drink by this tree next to a basketball court by the dorm. By day, I'd drive home early in the morning with the beginning of a hangover. It was the perfect way to spend a college summer. Senior year came and went. I continued my friendships with Steve, as well as the Dickenson Hall Crew. I remember Halloween '09...I had dressed as a cop to hang out with them in Ian's North Green sophomore year dorm, and Steve joked, "Dude, you look like a gay stripper." He often liked to point out whenever he thought I was wearing something ridiculous, like my 1980's vintage Members Only Jacket. LOL. Because it was senior year, I kept trying to do "senior year bucket list" things, and Steve resisted me at every turn. Tried as I might, I could not get Steve to tailgate college football with me, because you were just not going to get that guy out of bed before 2 p.m. on a Saturday. (I was able to do that with Ian and James, though.) Our friendship that year basically continued over Happy Hour talks at Deer Park Tavern, at La Tonaltecca, at Buffalo Wild Wings, and of course, his R.A. dorm at Dickinson Hall B. Towards the end of senior year, Steve and I were at Skidfest 2010, this legendary University of Delaware music festival held for 20 years. (This would turn out to be the last one, as nearby Barnes and Noble basically put pressure on the city to deny the event any kind of permit.) I snapped this photo of Steve while we were hanging out on the porch of Skid Row: It was the only photo I ever took of him- Steve wasn't the sentimental type, and I didn't have a cell phone camera until mid-senior year. But I remember when I took it, I really loved the photo- for a crappy cell phone camera, I thought it captured exactly how I saw Steve. He was a guy who was thoughtful- not the happiest dude around, or someone you'd always see with a smile on his face, but someone you knew had a lot of insight to share. Smart as a whip, and keenly observant of every one and everything. True to form, Steve didn't stick around for graduation. We didn't have a "proper" good-bye, just a chat at Buffalo Wild Wings before hanging out a little bit at his dorm. There would be no "Look, we made it!" smiling graduation pictures with us, like I got with my high school friends or my grad school friends. That did actually piss me off, because damn it, I thought that you needed a sappy good-bye to the tune of when you graduated from college. I did get to see Steve in person one more time- around August of 2010, he came back to visit Tony, Ant, and Justin at their house on Cleveland Avenue. We all ate dinner at La Tonaltecca, Steve's favorite Mexican restaurant, and just talked about the next upcoming year. They were going to be juniors, while we were going off to grad school. I told them about how I was going to have a roommate from Alabama and how I was worried he'd be some conservative bible freak, and then Steve joked and said, "You could be wrong, though. Maybe you'll meet your husband instead." (I didn't, and my roommate was nice but REALLY unattractive and apparently a pathological liar, but I digress.) Then we went back to their house, watched Super Stone Me, and that was about it, really. No big blow out, but just a pleasant evening with a group of people that I had become really good friends with, largely because of my friend Stephen. After graduation, we managed to keep in touch...the longest we'd go without any kind of contact would maybe 2-3 months or so. Our lives had gone in other directions, and I wasn't the same guy that I was in college. I always knew though that if I really wanted to talk to him, I could call him and he'd be there to listen. I mean, Stephen listened to me rant during my Habitat for Humanity Spring Break 2011 trip for an hour about an asshole parent chaperone while I was at some Rhodeway Inn in the middle of Georgia at 12 a.m. Our final talk was on Facebook November 20th...Steve was telling me about how he had just one paper left to finish his counseling degree, and I joked that he should specialize in rich guido teen cokeheads so he'd make bank. I knew that Steve was going to make one hell of a counselor, and I knew Steve was going to help a lot of people. From August of 2007 to November of 2013, I had a friend named Stephen Rose. He was my stoner buddy from New Jersey,. He liked drinking Rolling Rock and making joints out of his Black and Mild cigars. Steve liked driving around the Elkton, Maryland countryside while smoking with his friends in the car. He liked listening to classical music and hip-hop, and had a prominent poster of Snoop Dog in his dorm room. Steve preferred having CD's over MP3 players, because he liked to "feel" his music. He never failed to tell me how annoying he thought my nearly-pathological nostalgia streak was. He hated big crowds, fake preppy people, and wasn't keen on school despite his insanely high intelligence level. Steve was a guy who basically knew everything there was to know about me from the ages of 21 to 24. There is no one else in this world I can say that about.This friendship didn't resemble the melodramatic, epic friendships I'd see on T.V....no huge drama or big moments. No maudlin moments. No sappy good-byes. No jumping around in water fountains to the tune of . But it was real, it meant a lot to me, and I've been forever shaped by having known him. So, Steve, wherever you are, I hope you've got a Yuengling set aside for me at the bar when I'm ready to join you. In the meantime, just know that I couldn't be more grateful for the time I did get with you, even though it wasn't the decades that I imagined it being. R.I.P. Stephen Rose July 8, 1986 - November 29, 2013

The memorials have already started on Steve's Facebook page. My friend Ian told me that Steve was still on life support the last time he talked to his dad, but they were basically planning on taking him off it to let him pass in his own bed instead of a hospital. It's entirely possible that he passed after Ian talked to his dad, hence the memorials. I can't do the Facebook memorial just yet. Not until Ian confirms it to me on the phone. There are just so many memories that I'm running through my head. Meeting him in Kent Dining Hall over Move-In Weekend for the 2007-2008 school year. We got stoned and then laughed our asses off while eating burgers at the now-defunct Korner Diner. The time he listened to me on the phone while I told him about my mother's liver cancer scare. The many, many times myself and his residents would party in his room. Or the time he hung out at my house, and he bitched about his off/on girlfriend while we made fun of this awful horror movie called Tamara. The summer of '09, when he had a big ass dorm to himself and we'd hang out in his room and watch reruns of That 70's Show. Or the time at Buffalo Wild Wings where I told him about how I had been accepted into a grad school 5 hours away from home, and Steve told me that maybe it might end up being the best time of my life. (Which it was.) I hung out with a friend tonight at Homegrown...one crying jag happened, but I was able to get it together. I decided afterwards that I'd walk around University of Delaware at night, and walked up to Dickenson, which was the dorm he was an R.A. for: I walked up there, a very familiar path that I walked for the many, many times I hung out with him and the friends I made because of him at Dickenson Hall, and I got sad. Then I walked around the building, and saw this bench that was built in the back patio of the dorm...a memory hit me. It was the last week of college for us...Steve, myself, and some random residents were sitting on the bench at at night and just talking. I can't remember remember the particulars of the conversation, just that there was this talk about ghosts and a girl who looked like JWoww from Jersey Shore until she got hit with the Freshmen 15. It wasn't a deep, meaningful memory...but it was night where I was hanging out with my friend Steve, and I knew it would be one of the last ones. We were young, we were about to move on from each other, and while I was inclined to be a dramatic mess about it, Steve just had this attitude- we'd always be each other's boys. I wanted to have this big good-bye moment with him, as I was weaned on the teary good-byes that accompanied series finales and the like. But with Steve, as he basically put it- there's no need for a big good-bye, because we'll always be friends, and we'd see each other when we'd see each other. I just stared at that fucking bench, man, and then the sobbing started again. I couldn't stop. I circled around the building, and stood on the sidewalk in front of the entrance with glass windows that showed off the stairs that Steve would always come down from to let me in on the many nights that we hung out in his dorm. Some illogical, little kid part of me really wanted to see him bound down those stairs and open up the door for me. (Just like how earlier tonight I called Steve's number, wanting to hear his voice.) Futile hope, of course. This is 2013 and it's not 2010 and my friend Steve is never going to bound down those steps again to let me in so we could get faced with his residents in the dorm. So many memories, so fucking intense that I can barely stand it. So I started talking outloud to Steve...like the dorm was him. I told Steve that he was a brother to me, and it was a privilege being his friend for 6 years. I told Steve how fucking glad I was that he decided to walk up to me in that lunch room six years ago, and that he taught me so much about what being a friend is. I told him that I'd never forget him as long as I lived, and I'd miss him for the rest of my life. I tried to say as much as I could, like if I did, somewhere out there Steve would know how much I loved him and how much I feel like knowing him made me a better person. Then I walked back to my car, and got hit with yet another intense crying jag. It took me awhile to pull myself together, but I was able to get it together enough to drive home. Now I feel calm again. It's weird how that happens- I get hit with such forceful emotions that I can do little to stop, and a calm takes over. I don't know how long it's going to be like this- I've dealt with grief before but not as sustained and intense as this. It's just so weird, and surreal. Two or so months ago, I was sympathizing with the cast of Glee trying to deal with Cory Montieth's heroin overdose, and wondering how they got through it. I'm not so much in their shoes as I'm not an actor on a t.v. show, but I'm in their shoes now in terms of dealing with the fact that someone you loved died of an accidental drug overdose. The emotions I'm having are so fucking complicated- love for Steve, joy that I had him in my life, and just this underlying anger that he left in the way that he did. I just don't know how I'm getting through this. I really don't know.

1. Good point. And I've checked Don Bosco, and damn they've sent a lot of people to college ball and the NFL, although no super-stars. Still, getting into the NFL alone is tough as hell. 2. Also good to know. I got the feeling that Robbie was good enough at football that he'd make a college team, but not a super-competitive one. My friend Tom played for Princeton, but it's not like it was a super-renowned program. Jeff Hayes and Zach Hayes seem like the big, major football hopefuls you've had, which makes sense- talent on that level is supposed to be pretty rare.

Thanks. I'm going to be hopeful, but "severe brain injury" sounds really, really awful. Steve's 27. You're not supposed to check out at 27.

After the news I just got, this feels really petty in comparison.

My friend of 6 years, Stoner Steve as I've referred to him over the years, is in a coma after overdosing on heroin. He's had brain hemorrhaging and things aren't looking good for him. Our friend Ian let me know in a post over Facebook. I'm in total shock. Complete and totally. I had just talked to him on Facebook chat November 20th. According to Ian, Steve's dad found him on the floor on Saturday morning. They took him to the hospital, put him in a medically induced coma, and things were looking okay. But now they're not, which is why Ian decided to contact me. I just can't wrap my head around it. Steve is the only person from college that I've kept any kind of regular contact with. The guy was about to finish his master's degree, and unlike most grads in this economy, he had a job waiting for him. He's had his up's and down's, butfor the most part Steve didn't come off as nearly as crazy as he did in college. This guy is fucking intelligent, man. Like, seriously, I was in awe of how incredibly smart he was....I consider myself bright, but Steve was on a whole 'nother level. I joke that Steve's the kind of guy that could've cured cancer, had Steve actually liked school. We were just talking on the 20th, and I was telling him that he would make a great counselor to adolescents, given the bang-up pro-bono job Steve did with me back in college. It's seriously going to be a massive waste if he dies, or he winds up a vegetable. Steve taught me how to be a friend to people- how to listen and how to be yourself and relax and not focus so much on trying to impress people into being your friend. I really, really thought that someday we'd be 50 years old, meeting up at some UD alumni reunion that I begged him to go to(because Steve was NOT big on that shit), and we'd have one of our typical chats where he calls me on all of my b.s. while I joked to him about how he was the most unethical R.A. that ever existed yet still got a commendation from the university president. I can say that I have two true friends in this world. He's one of them. I don't know what I'll do without having Steve as my friend.

Well, my early and mid-20's thought process is basically documented both here and within the memories of members of Adam Phillips's multitude of discussion groups. I'm sure Adam, Mark, and Sharon wouldn't have ever characterized 23-year old Jeremy as "self-centered", or "oblivious", or someone who would tell an entire room of very smart people that they're all wrong while I'm completely right. Right, guys? *SILENCE* LOL. Yeah, Henson, you hit the nail on the head with that. I think back on the crap that I wrote when I was a teenager up through my early 20's, and cringe. I think when you're a smart young guy, you often have this mentality that everyone is going to be naturally in awe of how smart and insightful when you are, and that older people just don't get things as well because they're older and stuck in their old ways, and it's up to you as this smart young guy hip to the new ways to illuminate them. Will is seriously guilty of that- he has a strong tendency of calling Stefan, Brad, and JP out on their traditional ways of thinking and doing. I really can't see Will taking part in the "mafia justice" tendency of the family. For the purposes of the story, we're going to say that Zach got his Ohio license when he turned 16 in May, and that he's keeping his car licensed with Ohio. I knew a girl who was from Maryland who had her car registered with Florida because Florida is cheaper, so it does happen. Given that Zach doesn't have his own place, is only temporarily staying with the family for the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 school years, and doesn't intend of permanently living in New Jersey, I can buy that Zach can get away with it. It's basically like a college student from out-of-state- they don't have to change licenses or anything like that. I had a coach who went to University of Delaware while being from Massachusetts, and he kept his Massachusetts license/registration faaaarrrrr past his UD years- probably not until he bought a house here. By that point he had to give up the charade of being a Massachusetts resident. It's probably to Zach's benefit that he doesn't get caught driving late at night or get pulled over, though. Don Bosco is a Catholic school, too.Zach is fine. He's deeply closeted, passes himself off as a macho straight guy, looks like Liam Hemsworth, and unless he gets horribly outed, his final 2 years of high school should go fine. Again, the reason why Zach is at Don Bosco is because Mark wanted Zach to be recruited by a private school that had a top football program in the 2002/2003 era. Don Bosco was ranked 9th nationally, and they won back-to-back state champs for 2002 and 2003. Zach will get to celebrate a state championship for his senior year, which is what any guy aspiring to be in college football would want. It's also to show that Zach is someone who isn't just an Ohio high school football star, but someone that's getting national notice- probably the biggest Hayes star since Jeff Hayes. (I got the vibe that Robbie was okay enough to get a scholarship to Princeton, but Jeff Hayes and now Zach Hayes are the ones that people are really seeing as having major potential.)

Nah, that wouldn't help. They'd test for everybody in the car, too. Still, the main point here is that Zach's not an idiot, and he knows that if he blows this ride, he's stuck back in Claremont working construction or signing up for the Army. I can't see him downing a 6 pack ofYuengling and going for a drive with a car packed with 4 or 5 guys.

That's my take, too. Do they really think Zach is going to go on late night burn rides* with his friends or something? He's a guy, living with a host family, in a strange town, without any people that are inclined to give him slack. Zach's a star running back, but this isn't Claremont so he's not the Hometown Hero, and if he messes up there are other guys they can recruit. Zach's a sociopath that knows how to play by the rules, and as such, he's destined for major success. Probably as a CEO of a major corporation or something. *Burn rides refer to when people go on drive around the backcountry roads, while smoking pot. I used to do that with my friend Steve and the guys who lived in the dorm that Steve was an R.A. for.