Mattyboy

Any less of that and he'd be a harder-to-believe character I think the Animal Farm idea is on point. But for that reason, I don't see Jason as necessarily a sociopath, more as awful-in-a-way-we-see-often; he got a whiff of power and a dose of indignant anger went to his head, and in the group that blew up into a storm. As in Jason's idea that Perry was "confused" or in denial, and bit of sexual assault will "help" him figure it out in the long run. It's awful, we've heard of that before too, It's been a source of freshness for this story that that all that rot is inside Ross' social group, not out in dinosaur-class adults/institutions that they can deal with conventionally. I've quite liked the way the social dynamics aren't stereotypical, but they are recognizable. It's an intriguing idea that GSAs are high school clubs like any other. Because of course they are, but we get fewer stories about that side of them I'm glad to hear you're going to unpack what's been up with Nicky while he's been mostly offstage the last few chapters.

Was that a subtle entendre for us that Perry was "getting cold feet" at the top of the falls? Ross' decision making was good, but he left a LOT in Nicky's hands when he headed for the falls. Nicky's going to need a hug when he gets there.

Ut Mot Havet is lovely, and wasn't known to me before this. ranks with the Franck sonata as pieces I really like and know because of Cole Parker stories

No need to force it. I expect you'll know when the time is right

I was kind of assuming that's where this plot line was headed

I find I prefer Cole's stories in which his characters just face everyday life rather than his thriller-genre stuff. Both are excellent, that's just my taste But seeing international-spy-kid Jan pop up to mediate a difficult high school locker room situation was absolutely delightful. It would definitely be fun to see him pop up again sometime.

When this started I though we were in for a simple joke that the "incident at Chastity Falls" would be some sort of highly climactic gay sex rampage. Now it's kind of looking like something else. Enjoying the story- new-kid-navigates-high-school-drama is a popular genre, but lots of fresh characters and interesting twists.