Chapter 3
by 
saktongmanyak
What happens next?
Prologue
Summer, 2000
“This sounds familiar. What is this?” Diane asks, as the opening piano of Freddie Scott’s ‘(You) Got What I Need’ plays through Jay’s portable boombox.
It’s summer break for the two fifteen year olds who just finished their sophomore year of high school. Jay’s cleaning his family’s pool, while Diane is lounging on a chair and taking in the freedom of having no school to worry about for a few months.
‘Oh baby you~ You got what I ~need’ Freddie Scott begins to sing.
“That’s it!” Diane shouts in realization.
“YOU~!” Diane shout-sings, pointing at Jay while she does. “You got what I need! But you say he’s just a friend! But you say he’s just a friend!” Diane starts to sing Biz Markie’s ‘Just a Friend’ over the Freddie Scott song playing. Diane does small dances as she sings, getting Jay to smile at how adorable he finds her.
“This is actually the song they sampled for that.” Jay informs her.
“Sample?” Diane asks, unfamiliar with the term.
“Uh~... Like what Biggie did for uh… most of his songs actually. You know the ‘I’m comin’’ part in ‘Mo Money Mo Problems’? That's from Diana Ross.” Jay tries to explain.
“Oh~. Got it. Got it. So it’s a rap thing?” Diane asks.
“I guess.” Jay answers, as he continues to clean their pool.
“So why are we listening to this grandma song and not Biz Markie then?” Diane asks, genuinely curious. Jay, on the other hand, takes offense at the question; dropping the pool skimmer to turn around and look at Diane directly.
Instead of answering her question though. Jay decides to do something different.
“OH~ I’m thankful everyday.” Jay starts to sing, and even does the ‘woohoo’ of the back up singers as he does, and swaying his hips for unintentional comedic effect. “That you came my way. And I hope and pray… that you’ll never ever go away~ cuz’ you~~ got what I need.” Jay continues to sing, getting Diane to laugh as he does, before she cuts her off once the chorus fits in perfectly with the song she’s more familiar with.
“But you say he’s just a friend! And you say he’s just a friend!” Diane cuts Jay off from his singing with her own, before the two of them laugh in amusement of each other.
“We~ are listening to this song because it is…” Jay tries to answer Diane’s question more directly, before doing a chef’s kiss with accompanying hand gesture.
“Right~” Diane reacts sarcastically. “It’s totally not a subtle hint that I got all you need, Craig.” Diane teases him, before giving him a teasing air smooch.
Jay can’t help but blush.
‘Is she flirting with me? She’s definitely flirting right?’ Jay immediately asks himself.
‘Wait. If she’s saying that I’m the one giving subtle hints about the song, which… holy shit, you dumbfuck… why did you decide to play that fucking song? AAAGH! That means she’s giving subtle hints about me being just a friend, right? I mean… we are just friends.
…
Are you friends? The only reason you two started hanging out was because she needed someone to help her with her English homework so she won’t get kicked out of the soccer team. Shit. Even Lainey said she’s just hanging out with you because she wants to use the pool.’ Jay continues to think, not realizing he’s been silent this entire time while he stares at Diane after the flirtatious air smooch she gave him.
“Earth to Craig!” Diane tries to snap Jay out of his trance.
“Oh! Right. Sorry. What were we talking about?” Jay asks, trying to play his awkward staring off like nothing happened; but him scratching the back of his neck out of embarrassment, pretty much counters that effort immediately.
“We were talking about how your musical taste is the equivalent of enjoying prune juice.” Diane teasingly reminds him, choosing to gloss over the part where she obviously noticed how Jay blushed, and is obviously embarrassed, at her small gesture of affection.
“Oh no. No, no, no. I’m not taking that kind of trash talk from someone whose favorite song is ‘It’s My Life’ from Bon Jovi.” Jay teases right back, getting Diane to react in disbelief at the insult.
“That is not my favorite song!”Diane shouts defensively, actually standing up from her chair as she does. Jay, noticing he hit a nerve, decides to push on it further and decides to sing the song just to annoy Diane.
“It’s my ~life. It’s now or — OH SHIT!” Jay starts to sing, eliciting a more aggressive response from Diane who decides to push him onto the pool. Unfortunately for Diane, Jay instinctively grabs onto her to try and not fall onto the pool. Resulting in both of them falling into the pool together.
“You psycho!” Jay shouts as he emerges from the water, taking a deep breath right after.
“You dickhead!” Diane shouts a few seconds later, as she emerges from the water as well.
“Why’d you push me!?” Jay asks, just as Diane asks, “Why’d you pull me!?”
As Jay wipes the water from his face to get a clearer look at Diane in the pool with him, he can’t help but stifle a laugh at how goofy she looks with her sunglasses not resting on her face properly while she tries to rub the water from her eyes as well.
“What’s so funny?” Diane asks, hearing Jay’s stifled laughter. Jay doesn’t answer her, but instead, fixes the sunglasses on her face so that they’re on her properly again.
“There. You’re looking all pretty again.” Jay tells Diane, after fixing her sunglasses.
“Yeah?” Diane asks him with a teasing look. “All pretty?” Diane repeats Jay’s words, and Jay can’t help but look awkwardly at the realization that he let his inner thoughts slip.
“I mean…” Jay says to try to talk his way out of the slip up, but unable to think of a good enough excuse.
“Yeah?” Diane asks him, before approaching Jay a lot closer in the pool, and getting him to tense up in the pool.
“Other than the wet hair…” Jay blurts out, unable to think of something else to say, and latching onto the one thing he doesn’t find appealing with Diane’s current look in order to make it sound like he was just setting her up for a tease.
“Care to fix that for me too so I can look all pretty for you?” Diane replies, unfazed by Jay’s attempt to make it sound like he didn’t just admit that he found her pretty.
“Um~... Uh~” Jay mutters, his hands above the water now, unsure what to do with them to fix Diane’s hair. Jay instinctually does what most guys do in the rom-coms he’s watched, and tucks some hair behind Diane’s ear.
“All pretty again?” Diane asks him with a self-conscious chuckle. She’s very much aware that she’s no longer hiding her attempts to flirt with the guy she just considered a necessity to get a passing grade in English to not get kicked off the soccer team not so long ago.
All that’s changed since they started their study sessions though.
Diane always thought he was just a nerd who kept to his books, but she was surprised to find out he had a lot more depth to him than his reputation around the school of a bookworm implied.
Now though, Diane admits that Jay’s affable charm finally broke her down after a year of hanging out and studying with him. He’s been supportive of her all year. Even going above and beyond to get her grades up in all of her subjects, and not just English. She noticed he was always there to cheer for her during home games. Not missing a single one. He was even the first one to visit her at the nurse’s office when she sprained her ankle during practice. He even stayed after school to wait for her to finish practices so she could ride with him to their place to study.
Not to mention, Diane realized he’s not at all bad looking either.
That’s all it’s been the entire year though — studying.
Diane, as much as she hates to admit it, was (and still is) a bit frustrated that her doofus of a tutor hasn’t made a move on her the entire time. Always toeing the line of a gentleman and professional during their study sessions.
Diane has noticed how he looks at her though. It’s always with these sweet appreciative eyes, like he can’t believe he gets to spend time with her, and that he’s just happy to be hanging out with her. Diane admits to herself that it’s more than likely that she could just be projecting her own wishes onto what those looks meant; because, after some time, she realized his sweetness towards her has made her think of him as more than just a tutor. Maybe more than…
Just a friend?
“Um~... Uh~” Jay mutters again, breaking Diane’s train of thought.
“Yeah?” Diane asks again, her smile turning into a shyer one as well. She inches even closer towards him, unable to control herself from sending the most obvious signals that he should start making a move before she changes her mind about this whole thing.
Jay, letting his horny teenage instincts take command of his body, doesn’t bother second guessing his next move and just goes for it. He raises his hands above the water again. His hands move as if he’s going to tuck Diane’s hair once more, but he instead goes for the sunglasses he helped fix just a few moments ago and removes them entirely from her face.
The young bookworm stares into the tantalizing bluish gray eyes of his crush, and doesn’t fail to notice that those same eyes are staring right back at him too.
‘This is it, right? There’s no way this isn’t what you think it is, right?’ Jay thinks to himself, both psyching himself up and psyching himself out at the same time.
As the two teenagers’ bodies meet and come into contact with each other in the water, there’s no longer any denying what both of them intend to do at this moment. Jay finally glances at Diane’s lips, breaking the impromptu staring contest between them.
Diane’s lips are slightly open. Jay’s unsure if they’re like that out of confusion of what’s happening, or in anticipation of his next move. Jay tries to look back into Diane’s eyes; and as he does, he sees them staring into his lips as well.
‘KISS HER!!’ His brain shouts to order his hesitant body. His heart’s pounding inside his chest; and if not for being wet from the pool, Diane would definitely notice that he’s sweating bullets of cold sweat right now.
Still, Jay pushes through the nerves. He raises his arms to try and cup both her cheeks this time. His hands are shaking. He’s not sure if it’s because of the cold pool water; or the more likely reason, that he’s nervous as hell that he’s going to finally make a move on the girl he’s been crushing on.
Diane, on the other hand, can’t help but side eye Jay’s shaking hands. She’s unable to hide a nervous smile after seeing them. She’s not sure if he’s going to shake her to wake her up from this seemingly slow motion game of chicken; or if he’s going to **** her out of frustration, for not making the first move and kissing him.
“What are you guys doing?” his younger sister, Lainey, shouts from the sliding door of the house; ruining the moment between the two hesitant teenagers.
“None of your business, Lainey!” Jay can’t help but shout in annoyance.
“I don’t actually care!” Lainey shouts back in equal annoyance. “I’m just giving you a heads up that I’m going out.” Lainey informs her brother.
“What? No way! You’re not allowed to—” Jay shouts towards her, completely forgetting about how loud he must sound to Diane, who’s still right in front of him.
“Bye!” Lainey cuts him off before walking away. “I’ll be back before the ‘rents are home. Don’t worry!” Lainey adds from the distance.
As Jay looks back at Diane, it’s immediately apparent the moment they had is completely gone.
“Um~... Uh~... So~…” Jay mutters, not knowing what to do now that the two of them can’t even look at each other eye-to-eye from awkwardness.
Diane just splashes him in the face with water.
Fall, 2000
“WHO GIVES A SHIT IF THE CURTAINS WERE BLUE!?” Diane asks in obvious frustration, throwing her hands up to emphasize her feelings.
“Look, I get it. Even the author admits they just blurted out a random color, but Ms. Dumas argues that subtext can sometimes be interpreted outside of the intentions of the author, and that’s what our assignment is.” Jay explains to her.
“So what? Now I have to make up bullshit about small details about this boring story so I meet the word count for this stupid essay?” Diane continues in frustration.
“You make it sound like you haven’t been doing that the past couple of years.” Jay jokes, trying to lighten her mood.
“I haven’t been doing that for the past couple of years! That’s exactly why I was failing English!” Diane points out to him. Jay raises his hands to signal to Diane not to shoot the messenger.
“Alright. Okay. Let’s take a break.” Jay says in reaction, seeing how stressed Diane has become. Diane just breathes a sigh of relief, before resting her forehead on her crossed arms on the table.
“I’m sorry, my infallibly genius tutor.” Diane says sarcastically while she still has her head on the table. “I’m sorry you’re tutoring such a stupid bimbo.” Diane adds.
Jay decides to grab his burned CD of some classic tunes, and plays it on the living room sound system.
‘Darlin’, you~ send me~’, ‘I know you~, send me~’ The song ‘You Send Me’ by Sam Cooke plays on the boombox.
“Come on.” Jay says to Diane, offering his hand to her after standing up from his seat.
“What?” Diane asks in confusion.
“Dance with me.” Jay tells her confidently.
“What!?” Diane asks, even more confused after the explanation.
“Just dance with me. My grandpa said whenever my grandma was stressed out, he'd dance with her to calm her down.” Jay explains his intentions, to the doubtful reaction of Diane. “Granted, grandma told me most of that stress was caused by him.“ Jay jokes.
“Let’s just try it. What do you have to lose?” Jay asks her.
“Uh~, my dignity?” Diane answers, that Jay just scoffs at. “What if your parents come home?” Diane asks.
“They won’t be back for another couple of hours, at least; and Lainey’s sleeping at a friend’s house.” Jay informs her.
Diane still looks hesitant. She glances back and forth between Jay's hand that he’s offering her and Jay’s eyes that look determined and confident that his offer of a dance will relieve her of her stresses. Surprisingly to Diane, Jay doesn’t allow her to stew in that hesitancy any longer, and Jay just takes her hand in his, before gently pulling her up from her seat.
“May I?” Jay asks her, glancing at her waist as he does.
“Uh~, yeah. I guess.” Diane answers him, still confused about this whole thing, but undeniably excited at the sudden courage Jay’s exhibiting.
“Um, where do I put my uh…?” Diane asks, referring to her own free hand.
“Rest it on my shoulder.” Jay answers confidently, as he places his hand on her hip; before starting to lead her in a slow dance. To Diane’s continued surprise, Jay’s actually doing really well at leading her.
“Where’d you learn how to do this?” Diane asks him in wonderment.
“My grandma taught me.” Jay answers honestly. “She uh~... I mean, when my grandpa passed away, she missed doing this with him. So she taught me whenever I was at her place. She said she just wanted to reminisce about her moments with my grandpa.” Jay explains. “It’s why I’ve always had a soft spot for this… um… prune juice music, as you like to call it.” Jay adds on, chuckling in embarrassment towards the end.
“I know it’s dorky, but—” Jay tries to justify his embarrassment, before he stops what he’s saying out of shock from Diane cupping his cheek with the hand that was on his shoulder.
“Don’t.” Diane assures him. “I think it’s sweet.” Diane adds with a sweet smile, and a sparkle in her eyes that Jay has only seen once before. Jay even thinks he’s only imagined that look that one fateful summer day, but seeing it again now assures him that that look wasn’t his imagination.
‘KISS HER!!’ He mentally shouts at himself again, just like he did all those months ago. Jay finally cups Diane’s cheeks, returning her gesture. The exact thing he was trying to do in the pool back then. Unlike last time though, it’s Diane who breaks their staring contest and glances at Jay’s lips first.
His heart is pounding again. Only this time, it’s out of adrenaline and not nerves. Jay’s not letting this moment get away from him anymore.
No more shaking hands. No more cold sweats.
Jay finally stops hesitating.
The two finally break the imaginary barrier between them and share a kiss for the first time in their burgeoning relationship, as Sam Cooke’s song ‘You Send Me’ continues to play in the background…
Winter, 2001
‘At first I thought it was ~infatuation~,
But ooh~ it’s lasted so~ long,
Now I find myself wanting~,
To marry you~, and take you home~
“The song that started it all, right?” Jay asks Diane jokingly, as the two dance in the middle of a small ballroom, in front of a small group of their friends and Jay’s family. Jay says it to try and lighten the possibly million thoughts running through Diane’s mind right now. Jay looks into Diane’s bluish gray eyes, and he doesn’t see the sparkle they once had. Diane’s eyes look vacant and unfeeling, despite this being their first dance as a newlywed couple.
“Hey,” Jay says to grab Diane’s attention, squeezing the hand he’s holding to try and comfort her. “We’ll be alright.” Jay assures her. “I promise you.” He adds confidently.
“I already have a paid internship at Hopper-Collinsworth, and I’ll overload my units once I start college to graduate early, and I can get a job there. Mom and Dad will support us along the way too, and they’ll help us raise our baby in the meantime.” He tells her the same spiel he always tells her when he needs to assure her that this incredibly rushed marriage will work out, and that it was the right decision for both of them.
Diane gives him a smile. The same empty smile that she’s been giving him whenever he gives her these assurances.
“Do you regret doing this?” Jay asks her, finally seeing life in her eyes after hearing the question.
“It’s… it’s not that.” Diane informs him, hiding the complete truth from her new husband. “I just… I just wish my family was here.” Diane clarifies, holding back telling him the real reason for the worry in her eyes; and Jay can’t help but stay silent, unable to find the right words to comfort her.
Diane’s parents were beyond furious when they found out she was pregnant. Their pseudo righteous fury and overly religious zealotry was what **** Diane and Jay to marry this young in the first place. Jay knows the only reason Diane agreed to marrying him was because she was made to believe by her parents that was the only way they’ll forgive her.
Jay’s parents on the other hand, had to be convinced into the idea; but they knew that they wanted to support their son, and the mother of their grandchild, in any way they could. Ultimately, accepting the idea of their underage marriage.
At the end of it all though, as soon as Diane’s parents signed the marriage contract that gave their blessing and waiver, essentially emancipating Diane; they soon threw her out of their home and told her that she was Jay’s responsibility now.
In the short period of time that Diane and Jay spent together before all this happened, Diane did grow to love him… but marriage was always a distant possibility for her, having a family with him even more so.
She loves him…
… but she’s also just a teenager.
A teenager that’s still very much dealing with the trauma of having her parents, who she thought loved and cared for her, basically disown her.
“I…” Jay starts to say, hesitating to find the courage to say what he’s about to tell her. He wants to apologize to her, for literally fucking her into this marriage, but instead finds the words to assure her once more.
“I know it doesn’t feel like it yet…” He rephrases the original sentence he had in mind. “But I promise you, your family is here.” Jay tells her with all the conviction he can speak with, and moving the hand he had on her lower back, to her belly that’s going to show a baby bump soon.
“I love you, Diane.” Jay tells her.
“That will never change.”
Spring, 2021
“Some things never fucking change!” Diane shouts as soon as Jay closes the door to their apartment.
“What are you angry about now!?” Jay asks her in utter confusion and exasperation, as this start to a conversation will most definitely end up with the two of them arguing.
“You were flirting with Tanya again!” Diane accuses him in a shout.
“I was not flirting with Tanya!” Jay says defensively, his voice going up in volume as well.
“Oh~ spare me the bullshit! She was literally eye fucking you!” Diane shouts back.
“Where the fuck did you see that!?” Jay shouts back incredulously. “You know what? Even if she was, how the fuck am I supposed to tell her to stop eye fucking me?” Jay adds.
“Oh! How about telling her the obvious fucking answer to that question!?” Diane aggressively suggests.
“Obvious!? Please! Enlighten me! Enlighten me what that obvious fucking answer is!” Jay responds just as aggressively.
“How about reminding that fucking slut that you~” Diane starts answering, repeatedly poking Jay in the chest when she’s saying ‘you’. “HAVE A FUCKING WIFE!” Diane shouts in pure anger.
“YOU WERE RIGHT FUCKING THERE! WHAT OTHER FUCKING REMINDER DOES SHE NEED!?” Jay shouts back, completely done with this pointless and stupid argument.
“OH~~! So what you’re saying is, if I wasn’t there she wouldn’t be just eye fucking you, but literally fucking you instead.” Diane says in reaction, waving her hands up sarcastically as if her mind was blown by his response.
“WHAT KIND OF FUCKING LOGIC IS THAT!?” Jay reacts in a mix of disbelief, anger, offense, and the struggle to not strangle her to just tell him what it actually is she’s angry with him about. Unintentionally though, that last question finally breaks Diane.
“I’M SO~ SORRY MY LOGIC IS BAFFLING YOU, MY INFALLIBLY GENIUS TUTOR! I’M SORRY YOU MARRIED SUCH A STUPID BIMBO!” Diane shouts at him sarcastically, before stomping away towards their bedroom, slamming the door behind her.
“AAAAAGGH!” Jay shouts in frustration at himself.
‘WHY COULDN’T YOU JUST WALK AWAY!?’ Jay asks himself in anger.
‘YOU SHOULD HAVE WALKED AWAY!’ Jay continues to guilt himself, as he lies on the couch again. The same couch he already knows he’ll be sleeping in tonight.
Jay trills his lips out of frustration and acceptance at the shitstorm he put himself into by falling for Diane’s bait to a fight again. Jay realizes that the two have been having a lot of those lately. All of them for the most mundane and petty reasons.
Jay closes his eyes. He allows himself and Diane a few minutes to calm down from the fight they just had. He knows the drill by now. These fights have happened a lot more frequently since Stella started college. This isn’t even the first time this week they’ve had one of these pointless arguments.
After fifteen minutes pass, he sits up from the couch to take action. He approaches the framed studio photo of Diane with their daughter Stella, who was around five at the time, that’s hanging on the wall. He remembers the main reason they had that photoshoot was so that they could have a bunch of family photos to decorate their newly bought apartment in this new city.
It’s been a normal exercise for him to look at this photo to remind himself why he needs to swallow his pride and just apologize to Diane for escalating fights. He knows Diane’s just stressed at work, and maybe she’s doing this just to find reasons to vent out whatever anger she was feeling towards somebody else. He’s even thankful that Diane didn’t pick these fights when Stella was around. She at least cares enough about her that she wouldn’t allow their daughter to see them fight each other over something so stupid.
Jay connects his phone to the bluetooth speakers to play some music.
Jay then approaches the door of their bedroom and knocks.
“Honey?” Jay asks, as The Temptations start to sing ‘My Girl’ through the speakers.
‘I’ve got sunshine~, on a cloudy day~’
Jay knows Diane won’t answer him, he even knows the dance between them won’t fix the fact that she’ll want him to sleep on the couch tonight, but he also knows that not offering the olive branch now would result in an actual fight down the road. A fight that can’t be fixed just by offering her a dance.
After a few seconds of Diane not answering, he knows she’s calmed down enough where he can enter the room without being yelled at to get out. Jay finds his wife with her head in her hands, sitting on the edge of the bed.
“May I tempt you to a dance?” Jay asks playfully.
‘I’ve got so~ much honey~, the bees envy me~’
“No.” Diane answers him flatly. Jay expected as much. He’s done this ‘dance before the dance’ before. He squats in front of her, and grabs her hands in his, before he starts rubbing them with his thumbs. Diane’s still not looking at him, and still has her head down. Jay stands up, and tries to pull Diane up with him; but, to Jay's surprise, she lets go of his hands.
“We can’t fix this with a dance, Jay.” She tells him, her tone morose.
“A slow dance can fix anything.” Jay playfully replies.
“Not this one.” Diane tells him matter-of-factly, before she grabs a bunch of papers that were beside her that Jay didn’t even notice were there, and hands them to him.
“I’m the one who should be saying sorry, Jay.” Diane says, as Jay reads the heading of the document she hands him.
…
“I’m sorry. I really am.” Diane adds, as she begins to tear up.
“What is this?” Jay asks, his voice trembling in fear and confusion.
‘Hey hey hey’
‘Hey hey hey’
…
“WHAT IS THIS!?” Jay asks her in anger, shaking the paper in his hands. He knows exactly what the documents are. He just couldn’t believe what he read —
[DIVORCE APPLICATION FORM]
‘I~~ guess~ ~~you’d say~’
“Just tell me why then.” Jay tells her, after Diane remained unresponsive, as she assumed it was a rhetorical question.
‘What can make me feel this way?~’
“Because I was the one who cheated on you.”
‘My girl~
My girl~
My girl~’
Summer, 2021
Folks said that you found someone new
To do the things I used to do for you
Just call my name, I'm not ashamed
I'll come running back to you
Can't sleep at night, I can't eat a bite
When you were mine I didn't treat you right
Just call my name, I know, I know I'm not ashamed
I'll come running back to you
Just like a king, I've lost everything
I sit all alone on my throne
I've got my pride, but deep down inside
I'm yours, I'm yours alone, oh!
Meanwhile, on Jay’s phone as his daughter Stella ends a call that Jay has missed once again.
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Author's Thank You Address:
Hey everyone! This chapter won the Patreon only poll I conducted back in June where I asked what my Patrons would rather have as an Anniversary Special. It was a choice between a 'Flashback Special' and something similar to the Halloween Special Orgy Extravaganza but 'Anniversary' themed. The 'Flashback Special' won by one vote.
At the time, I only vaguely described this chapter as maybe a flashback to Jay and Diane's first anniversary together as a couple, to help flesh out what their relationship was back then. However, as I started writing, this idea of how their relationship started with seasons and accompanying music came to mind that I couldn't help but not write it.
As this is a canon chapter (and maybe something I would have written down the road anyway), as well as the fact that the Flashback Special only won by one vote, I'll also be writing the Anniversary Orgy Special, but keep it Patreon Exclusive.
As this is an anniversary of the first time a chapter of mine got published here on CHYOA, I wanted to say a few words of gratitude.
A special thanks go to all my Patreons: streetlight1117, zenaus94, bjurgen, MW, JL, Niallish, Aesgeir, Hagblue, Agarwaen22, Baby Bird, Max G, Valant, Samaruc, Wesbrook, and Talith. Their generosity surprises me every time they renew their subscription, and I cannot thank them enough. I can only hope they enjoy what I write enough that they don't feel jipped by the trade XD
I also want to show my appreciation to my old Ko-Fi donors: Akhara, Valent, Outis Corde, and my anonymous donor, who all helped support me in my first few months of writing. You guys can't imagine the smile on my face realizing I have people who would support me that way.
Last but not least, my loyal CHYOA readers. Special mentions go to: MrWhysper, for editing and publishing the first three months or so of this story; johnnyjohn6969 who helped me search for character pictures early on; Lions_2786 and chrisb, who have been giving constant feedback (both positive and constructive) since I started writing, motivating me to not just continue writing but also do better early on.
To my readers who constantly like or bookmark when a new chapter comes out, or those who have commented in specific chapters, I see all of you. You're too many to mention individually, but know that I appreciate every small gesture of your appreciation and critique of my work.
With all that said, this is only the first year. I hope there's many more to come. Thanks once again to all of you. I wouldn't have been able to write 200+ chapters inside a year (.59 chapters a day! That's a chapter every other day!) without all of your support. You are all legends.
/SM
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