Jashley13

Hey everyone! Finally got a break in packing to bring you the Reality Check: - Can't count the number of times I saw a high school cast list and went, "Really? I got cast and this person didn't?" or "Why the hell did they go with that person and not me?" It was bullshit. - Ms. Locke is pretty much still going through what my teacher did my Junior year (explanation in the next chapter) - Matt is based, almost down to the name, on a friend I made the same way. Won't say his significance yet but I really did want to include him. That's all for right now. We're getting hurricane warnings over here so my wife and I are battening down the hatches to stay safe. Shouldn't be too bad. Next chapter is coming along well and should hopefully have it out soon. Hope you're all doing well and stay safe. You guys rock!

Hey everyone! Chapter 40 is up! Wow...how did I get this up so quickly? Wish I could get them all out like this. Or even quicker. Here's hoping! First official chapter from the new residence! Not much more to say except that I hope you enjoy and I'll be back soon with the Reality Check. Hope you all enjoy!

Hey everyone! Sorry this took a little while to get here but, you know, unpacking and everything. Still a ways to go but at least the process is started. Anyway, Reality Check for Chapter 39! - Like Chapter 38, the vast majority of the school stuff is exactly what happened on my second day of Junior year in high school. Aside from minor changes to protect the innocent, the details, personalities, and words of the teachers are taken basically verbatim from real life. - My school actually did Alice in Wonderland my Sophomore year of high school, rather than my Junior year, but this helps coincide with my decision to set the story beginning in the second year of high school rather than the first (a decision I do not regret). - Ms. Locke's issues...well, not to give anything away, but they're very much based on my high school teacher and what happened to her. I have a lot more sympathy for my teacher now than I did back then, probably because I was a dumb teenager. Chapter 40 is progressing well, almost to the point that, if my mind is in the right place, I might get it completed tonight I know, right? When did I get such speed? Obviously, I'm not going to plow through to the end and ignore quality but I'm in the home stretch of the chapter and can totally see myself finishing it up and being able to post it tomorrow morning. If not, then it will certainly be up by Sunday morning (I have a couple of days off I need to spend making myself useful around the house). Hope you're all doing well! See you tomorrow (hopefully)! P.S. I'm really liking all the sympathy Belle is getting, not just because of her situation, but because people seem to genuinely like her. That's good. I always like knowing that my characters are liked by the readers. What's gonna happen? You'll just have to keep reading.

Hey everyone! First official post from the new house! A huge thank-you to Chester57 for spotting the error with the name. No excuse except I was exhausted as all Hell while writing the chapter. Just getting everything packed and ready was killing my sleep schedule and I'm still working to get all that sleep back. The errors have been corrected. Thanks to such a dedicated reader! New chapter is proceeding along better than I expected and I hope to have it up in the next week. Hope you're all doing well!

Chapter 39 is up! This is another milestone chapter, not because of what's in the chapter necessarily, but more because...well, it's my last chapter I'm posting from where I live now. I've been posting chapters while living in this apartment for over a year now but, thankfully, the wife and I are moving to a house so, now, hopefully I'll get a bit more inspiration from being able to sit on the back deck with a beer and some nibbles and not have to deal with shrieking pot-smokers two feet away. Ah, the joys of life. We hope to be moved in by Friday so you probably won't hear anything from me until then, but I'll still be starting work on Chapter 40 (holy crap...Chapter 40! And I didn't think I'd make it to Chapter 4!) See you all soon!

New chapter should be up tomorrow. Here's hoping!

Hey everyone! So, quick update, my wife and I just got a house We're beyond excited. We're finally able to move out of our apartment and the pot-smoking neighbors, thwumping bass of the nightly 'parties' around us, and the crazy basement lady who hisses at me whenever I pass her! Now, what does this mean for the story and release dates? Most likely nothing. Updates on the forum might be slow in coming but the work will continue as planned. I'm looking to release the next chapter this weekend but I will update as I know more. Don't mean to brag or anything but we're just beyond excited to move on with the next phase of our lives, since we were waiting for a house before having a child We shall play it by ear but we're just happy to have the opportunity. Updates to follow. Hope to be back soon

Hey everyone! Reality Check time! - Okay, so, this might be the easiest one yet: basically everything in this chapter actually happened. Names have been changed and some lines and details are different (obviously I wasn't in a relationship at the time) but aside from that, virtually everything that happened in the chapter was exactly like my first day of Junior year. That actually made writing this chapter a little difficult, since I had to remember a lot of stuff and make it fit, but...yeah, that's really all I've got. I'm plowing through ahead with the next chapter. Bit of a slow start (an apology was put in and that had the awkwardness an apology like that would always have) but it's starting to pick up a bit. Second day of school, plus the audition to come And by the way, I LOVE all the theories. I wish there was a way to just mix them all in together into a gigantic 'WTF!' I've got the end goal in mind but I won't go so far as to say all the tiny details have been worked out so feel free to suggest and imagine See you all soon!

Chapter 38 is posted Just realized...this chapter is kind of a milestone. I've posted exactly as many chapters on this site as I had on xnxx. Well...technically. Chapter 19 was only up on xnxx for about a day before I got the death threat and had to take it down. So I guess you could say that I've now officially posted more chapters on this site but, either way, a big, big thank-you to AFF for being as helpful and user-friendly as it has been and giving me a place to tell my story where I don't have to worry about threats and trolls all the time Hope you all enjoy the chapter. Weird that we're back in school but this year promises to be a big one! See you soon!

New chapter tomorrow

Hey everyone! So, next chapter should be out this weekend Hopefully, anyway. There's a little chunk of it still left to write. I know where I want it to go so it should go smoothly, but you never know. I'll keep you updated. I'm loving all the theories. Again, I'm not going to confirm or deny anything directly but I'll just say this: the reason I love Game of Thrones so much is that, whenever there's a 'twist', it earns it in a realistic sense, which makes it all the more gut-wrenching. It's not done purely for the cinematic purpose of it. I try to make my writing the same way. I don't want to throw in huge twists just because of the 'ZOMG!' factor; I want to earn that by having things smoothly transition together so that it feels like there's no way it could have gone otherwise. Like real life. Confused? You'll understand. One last thing: BashfulScribe recently posted his new story on xnxx. Almost at once, he got his by the downvoting douches, particularly ToucanPlay, and a bunch of others who used hax and whatnot for multiple downvotes at once. He posted this on his forum and the ratings have since gone back up, but if you get the chance, please go to the site and give him a boost? He really deserves it, especially since he had the guts to go back to a site I never plan on posting on again. Hope you're all well and see you soon!

Hey everyone! WOW! Well, that kinda shuts me up about the lack of updates, huh? I didn't mean that I was demanding more or anything; I'm just kind of a worrywart. I've had bad things happen when people I know go silent and...well, you guys are the best readers/fans imaginable and the last thing I want is for anything bad to happen to any of you. Glad to know you're all still there and doing well Anyway, onto the Reality Check: - Jack's thoughts on Rhona are developing much the same way as mine with the friend Rhona is based on. I'm not going to say more in case of spoilers but it's kind of surprising how well it is lining up. I try not to make any of my characters exactly like the people I know, just in case of...copyright? I don't know. But needless to say, it's fun writing her. - Nothing has happened between me and my cousin like what happened with Jack and Tara (and it's not going to), but their conversation is based on some that we've had over the years, particularly about the guys who have screwed her over (that's where my cousin and Tara line up exactly). It was kind of hard to write since it recalls less-than-happy memories for her but I'd be doing her a disservice by sugarcoating it. - God...I know conversations like the one between Jack and Jessica too well. Seriously, I've had too many of them over my teenage years and beyond. - I tried doing that handstand thing that Alan did at a hangout similar to the one in the story. It...did not go well. - To the particular commenter asking why I named a character after myself...I just happened to. But if you want a more detailed explanation, you can kind of break it down like this: Jack is how I think, Joe is how I act. Not completely and totally, but for the most part. Now for Bad Idea Confessional: There was originally going to be a brawl between Jack and Kayla versus Craig and the two bruisers he brought with him. Scrapped because I was saving up for Homecoming and because I didn't see how the police couldn't get involved with that one. Basically, I didn't want the story to turn into a long series of fights. I thought it best to have Craig make cutting remarks and then save the fight for Homecoming. Well, that's all for that. As for other business, I've started working on the next chapter. Its...weird. Mainly because I'm back at the first day of school, but without having to use it as the basis for introductions. Now I've got a cast of fleshed-out characters who are returning, begrudgingly, to school. It's a weird sort of feeling and meant I started off a little slowly, but it's starting to pick up now, mainly because I convinced myself that deep, in-depth descriptions of every single class are not absolutely required. In another bit of news, BashfulScribe has just posted the first chapter of a new story. It's fantastic. If you haven't had a chance to check it out yet, it's called 'The Good, The Bad, And the Molly'. Give it a read. You won't be disappointed. Well, that's all the news I have for now. I'll keep you all posted with the next chapter. In the meantime...God, I love the theories you guys come up with. I won't comment on them, since I don't want to even directly reveal spoilers, but it's always amusing how crazy or even scarily accurate some of them are. You'll just have to keep reading to find out. See you soon!

Hey everyone Chapter 37 is up Wow, this forum has become kind of deserted. Not that I'm demanding more comments or views or anything but I just love coming here and seeing how everyone's doing, their crazy theories, reading encouragement and criticism...all of it. So I'm just hoping everyone's okay and all is going well in your lives Glad I was able to get this up in a timely manner, unlike the last chapter. Hopefully I'm back on a good schedule with releasing chapters. Reality Check to come soon. Hopefullly you all enjoy the chapter and I will see you soon in the next saga: The Fracture Saga.

New chapter will be up tomorrow @thismy I do IT stuff, mainly working with computer accounts and installing software

Hey everyone! Sorry this has been kind of a ghost-forum lately but I just got off an 8-day stretch of work so I finally got some time off. First @ Guest_N_, it was just a Fringe Theater sort of production for children. Nothing impressive but something I can put on a resume. Second, work in the chapter is progressing well. I've just about finished so hopefully by this weekend, it will be all done. Hopefully, I can get it done in time for you to read before going back to college Guest_Dark_ Hope everyone is well and I'll try to update more. See you soon!

Happy anniversary to an author and story whose talents I can only dream of matching someday

Hey everyone Reality Check time! - As with the first session with Fitzsimmons, this is based less around an actual event and more what I gleaned from the one time I actually went to see a shrink. I can't claim that this is exactly how shrinks talk or behave but, based on the doctor I talked to, this seems as close as I can get without regular sessions. - Jack and Kayla's arguments and what they see as 'faults' in each other are all things that I've dealt with about myself. I can be an overthinker and I can keep things to myself, not talking about them openly. I'm still working through them but I've come a long way since I was younger. I guess I'm still working through my own issues. - Jack's chat with Craig and Becca was very similar to one I had a couple weeks ago with a friend who went on vacation, up to and including me being absolutely exhausted (I was in a play at the time, which was bumping into my sleep schedule with my night-shift work). - I haven't had a birthday that big since I was about eight years old but a lot of the conversation was cherry-picked from conversations I've had at my own celebrations and at others'. - I got a PS4 a few weeks ago, cheating on my birthday just a little bit. I'm really enjoying it and I'm glad I waited, since if I had gotten it at the time of release, I'd have to deal with the initial wave of crap exclusives. *shudder* And now for the Bad Idea Confessional: - This might be less of a Bad Idea and more laying to rest something that people have been wondering about for a while. At the end of Chapter 5, when Jack and Kayla have first kissed and they are cuddling with each other, Jack thinks he may have seen someone at Kayla's back door. Some have speculated that this might be Amanda or Craig or Brad or even her parents. In actuality, there was really no one there. The scene was more making reference to the fact that, while Jack was happy as could be with Kayla, he was aware that Craig was now going to be a bigger problem and that he'd have to earn the happiest he'd just gained. Maybe I could have illustrated it better but I didn't want to hammer the readers over the head. I'm working through Chapter 37 at a fairly swift pace. After the heavy emotional stuff in the last chapter, it's good to have a lighter chapter to write, with plenty of jokes, easy-going scenes, and good feelings between the characters. I'm currently working an 8-day shift since I'm switching my days off at work, which could be a good or a bad thing. I'm not sure how that's going to affect my work, since I won't be getting as much sleep or days off for a little while, but that also means my mind is going to be more focused than before. We shall see. Oh, and since I saw some questions about it, the next chapter will be the last one of the Summer Saga. Also, today is a milestone, though most people don't know it. Today officially marks the one year anniversary of Being More Social If you haven't visited Bashful's forum, please do so and give him some congratulations. He deserves it and I'm sure he could use the encouragement to keep writing. And just the general good sentiment That's all I've got for right now, I think. More updates to come soon, hopefully all good news See you guys soon!

Chapter 36, at long last, is up I am so so sorry about the lack of updates and the time it took me to do this one. I just haven't been feeling myself lately. Partly it was my birthday that distracted me (25...holy crap...a quarter-century) but that was one day, so that's no excuse. My biggest issue was just how draining certain sections of this chapter were. They weren't as emotionally-charged as certain other sections of the story (or others to come) but it was enough, with the emotional troubles I was having, to ensure that I took a while with this one. For that I apologize. Thank you all so much for your encouragement and support. I really couldn't do this without you guys. You make all the crap I go through worth it, just because I know I can come on here and read responses from some of the best fans ever. I seriously love you guys and all I can hope is that the story continues to live up to expectations. I promise to try to update more for this coming chapter and keep things active and fluid. Reality Check soon. See you guys then

Hey everyone! Really sorry for the lack of updates! First of all, thank you so much for the birthday wishes It means a lot. I'm sorry the new chapter wasn't out before then but I'm working on it as hard as I can. Speaking of, I'm finally managing to push towards the end so, hopefully, it will be up this weekend. I've been feeling more exhausted lately so I'm trying to balance sleep, work, and writing, but I thnk I should be coming to an equilibrium. Good news soon, I hope!

Hey everyone. Kinda bad news. It looks like the new chapter will take a little longer than expected. The first part of the chapter kinda left me emotionally drained and it took me longer than I thought to get through it. I'm past it now and working as fast as possible, but it looks like it may not be completed by my birthday. Pity...that was going to be my birthday gift to you guys. I'm gonna work hard to get it done anyway but, unfortunately, I can make no promises at this point. I apologize.

Seminal moment in my life: I finally had a chance to meet BashfulScribe in person today and let me just say that, aside from being an amazing writer, he's also an amazing person. If you haven't checked out his forum or his story yet, please do so. You won't regret it.

Hey everyone! Update time! So I've been plowing through Chapter 36, trying to get it out in time for my birthday. Kind of my birthday gift to all of you. I'm hoping it's out before then but, if not, I definitely want to get it out the day itself, especially since Jack and I share birthday So that's the best timeline I can give you for right now. Anyway, onto the Reality Check: - The awkward drive home is reminiscent of so many awkward drives I've had with family and friends. It's always fine if we're in a comfortable silence but awkward silence? Makes the car ride three times as long. - I worry very much the same way as Jack when I'm waiting to hear back from someone. I check my phone every few seconds, certain that I felt a vibration. It's gotten to the point where I'll feel a tremor in my leg, just because I'm so desperate to hear back from whoever I was texting. - Jack's tense conversation with his father is very similar to tense conversations I've had with my own father. In fact, I think I may have taken it verbatim from an argument we had, just changing the context a bit. - Jack 'warming up' to Rhona is very much how I myself warmed up to her real-life counterpart. For me, it was a bit more gradual than Jack, but since there is so much more to work through, I figured that dragging it out was probably not the best plan, especially since I don't want things too cluttered in the coming future. - Jack's argument with Kayla was, I hate to say it, modeled after some arguments I've had with my wife. The ones with my wife were not as severe as the one between Jack and Kayla but I still had her read it and give her permission before I posted it, just to make sure she was okay with it. And now for Bad Idea Confessional: - When Amanda was seducing Jack by having him handcuffed to the bed, I was originally going to have Kayla see it and it was going to drive a wedge between them. I dropped it for a couple reasons. First, everybody was already suggesting it and I wanted to do something a little more unexpected. Second, I felt it was too cliché and wouldn't make sense given how I'd already laid out their rooms and I'd have to come up with a plausible reason why Kayla would look out at that exact moment...it was just too much. I scrapped the idea for the better, I think, and Kayla is still unaware of what Amanda did to Jack...so far. Working as hard as I can on Chapter 36 and I'm hoping it turns out as well as I need it to. This is one where everything kind of comes to a head and I really hope it lives up to expectations. See you guys soon!

Chapter 35 is up Hope you all enjoy! On a related note...over 200000 views on the forum...almost 2000 responses...and almost 300000 views on the story. WOW! Just looking at those numbers makes my head spin. You guys are the best readers an author can hope for and I have to thank you all so much for the support and love you've shown. I hope I continue to live up to it in future chapters Hope you enjoy the chapter and see you soon!

Hey everyone! First of all, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I have the chapter out by tomorrow. Can't promise that for sure but it will definitely be out either tomorrow or Monday. Second, @thismy...that was incredible. A wonderful, wonderful job at conveying such a scene I can't say anything specific regarding it, whether pro or con, without revealing stuff that happens down the line but I'm really impressed and thank you very much. I'm honestly touched by how much effort and heart you put into that. It's not every day an author reads a better version of his own work See you guys soon! Keep fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Hey everyone! So, quite a while since the last update, huh? Looks like everyone's been keeping busy on the forums in the meantime, I'm glad to see. Sorry it's been a while but having to make up for the lost work time while I was on vacation meant I had to work several 12-hour shifts in a row xP It basically left me in two states: working and sleep. So I didn't have time to update. But, here I am, so let's do some catch-up. First, Reality Check from the last chapter: - Minor point, but everything they say about the humidity is exactly how I feel. It's no sweat for me in the cold (no pun intended) but once it's a degree over room temperate, I'm like Mike Tyson at a third-grade spelling bee. It's horrible. - A buddy of mine actually did the whole 'let's throw all of them fruits and vegetables together to make healthy smoothie' thing, pretending it was a legit drink. I still have nightmares about it. - The whole roller-skating rink incident happened to me with a previous girlfriend. If I concentrate hard, I can still feel my head hitting the ground. Ouch. - As much as it pains me to say it, Jack's frustrations at being denied sex are very much like my own thoughts. Oh, I'll respect the decision and everything, but if I'm in the mood and it's been a bad few days, there will be plenty of grumbling. I'm not proud of it but there you go. Second, Bad Idea Confessional: I wanted Jack and Craig to have their fight in the lunch room back in Chapter 4. It was going to be a big throwdown, with the two of them slinging each other across tables, into trash cans, and cranking each other over the head with trays. It was gonna be brutal. I realized that I couldn't get away with it in a lunch room, since teachers would be around to break it up almost at once. If it was barely a fight, there was no reason to put it in. So it just became a short scuffle, with the big fight still a couple chapters away. All right, so onto other stuff. I'm about halfway through the current chapter and am aiming to have it done by this weekend, if all goes well. There are only about two or three chapters left in the Summer Saga before the school year starts up again and believe me, I have plans for that. I'm not going to reveal anything but for those of you looking for a 'relaxing' time for Jack and company...give it a little bit. That's all I'll say. Believe me, he's going through a lot less emotionally than I did at the time and I would have liked nothing more than to just have time away from all that stuff so...I'm trying to do it as realistically as I can. All I ask is that you don't judge the characters too harshly. They might do it to each other but we, at least, have the benefit of experience that I wish I'd had at the time. More updates to follow. See you soon