My relationships

William- selfish, delusional, pretentious, asshole

Zack- manipulative user, asshole cunt, liar

John and John- took advantage of me, Did not care about me at all. Predators.

John- bizarre personality, awful kisser, I was just lonely.

Russell- another weirdo, mistake.

Cameron- controlling, only wanted sex, did not care to understand me as a person, temper issues. Pressured me into sex acts almost every chance he got. I was too young.

Ryan- too young and immature, Did not care about me, but I could barely remember his name now.

Matt- was like 2 different people. Treated me well as a friend, but hated me as a girlfriend. Heart broken.

Benjamin- Grew to dislike me, I think. Extreme commitment phobe.

Brandon- piece of shit addict, using women for shelter, used me and shat me out. Lied about everything. His family was also pieces of shit who somehow thought I was the one not good enough. Cunts the lot of them. Dated again after divorce to find out he was still a cunt when he broke my heart a 2nd time. Apparently, very charming to have fooled me a second time.

Chaz- still can't say his name without feeling uncomfortable. Nearly the most fucked up person I have ever met. Used me, abused me, raped me, and traumatized me. Filled with malice and hatred for everyone and an absolute failure in life. Love bombing, gaslighting and lied so much I questioned my own memory. Also, a pedophile and a narcissist with a severe case of borderline personality disorder. I don't understand how anyone could be capable of so thoroughly destroying a person inside and out the way he did me. I only defended myself. I did nothing to warrant that level of abuse. He did take the time to get to know me but ended up using the knowledge of all my weaknesses and vulnerabilities against me. He broke and remade my brain into something he controlled. I had to remind myself for the longest time that he deserves to be where he is.

Every female friend I have ever had plus my former and current sisters in law - Cunts. Giant cunts. They taught me self-hatred first. It still hurts to this day that Stephanie only ever attempted to speak to me once years after her and Keith's divorce and never again and never returned any of my messages. She was my sister and we had been so close. I only realize now from what I can remember that she was probably immature and selfish and still is to this day.

My brothers- As kids, it seemed like they hated me because of constantly being picked on. It was borderline abusive. Keith's constant issues with drugs, jail and insanity was traumatizing all by itself. I could write a book about it and the depression and pain it caused.

My parents- I felt emotionally neglected by both of them as a child. It didn't matter if they tried to show it, I could never feel it due to the constant fear of judgement and the terror from physical punishment or threats of physical punishment. First suicidal thoughts at age 10 is definitely a bad sign. I know there were good and happy times, but I remember best the feeling of fear. As an adult, it was easier to see that they do care about me a lot. They have changed a lot over the years too. I know they suffered abuse and neglect in their own childhoods and only had an authoritarian cult of a church to help them figure out how to be parents. In the end, they let love of their children win out and they are much better parents and grandparents. They have always supported me when I needed it.

Christina- I love you. You have helped heal a lot of my trauma. We have had our ups and downs but you have stood by me and taken steps to change when I needed you to. You are the only one that has treated me with kindness without selfish motivations other than my family. I trust you as much as I can trust anyone. And I am still trying to get better after a lifetime of awful relationships. I still have to survive and provide for our family at the same time and sometimes the resources for healing just aren't there. Have patience with me. All my close relationships in my life have been shite but I am having to undo their damage.

The Bitch is Back

Pairing: Ransom Drysdale x fem!Reader (OTP)

Words: ~2.8k

Summary: You run into Ransom’s cunt of an ex again and it goes about as well as expected.

Warnings: explicit language, Ransom looking like a whole snack, fluff, that blonde bitch, Linda being a cunt, extremely abusive language and allusions to past emotional abuse, more angst than I had intended, my undying love for these two idiots, too many feelings

A/N: I hate her, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her, I hate her! Sorry everyone, the angst took over this one and what I had intended to be another fun romp a la Girl Fight turned into a pit of emotion that I couldn’t dig myself out of. I’m gonna go cry.

“Baby, you know we can just go home, right?” Ransom gave you a tired but indulgent smile when he looked at you, tucking his fingers under your chin and tilting your head back so he could look into your eyes while you swallowed thickly.

“No, I’m not gonna give your mother the satisfaction of seeing me duck out of this thing.” You got that stubborn set to your jaw that told him to quit trying to take care of you, because proving to his bitch mother you could actually make it through one of these stupid events without causing some kind of scene was more important than your comfort right now.

You felt bile rise in your throat and swallowed it again. This was fucking ridiculous, you weren’t even on a boat, just the dock. But you still felt like you were going to vomit at any second, watching the motion of the boats rocking on the water making your gut lurch. It almost made you wonder if Linda knew about your stomach’s aversion to being on water when she had insisted on the two of you attending their fucking sailing club’s final regatta. 

“Here we go, one scopolamine patch.” You could’ve kissed Anne when she handed it to you, grateful that Ben’s boat was moored in this marina so you didn’t have to spend the rest of this stupid thing constantly swallowing your own vomit. “Why didn’t you bring your own?”

“She said she’d be fine if she didn’t actually go on the boats.” Ransom ignored the glare you shot him when he talked to Anne over your head, rubbing your arm softly when he pulled you closer to him.

“Did I tell you how much I hate that you two get along?” You frowned when Ransom pressed his lips to your hair, slapping the patch on your neck and sighing when you felt your stomach start to settle.

Anne just laughed at you, shaking her head as she sipped on her cocktail and leaned against Ben. The fact that this guy actually treated you like you deserved did a lot to endear him to her, even if he was an asshole sometimes.

You had been worried at first about introducing Anne to Ransom’s idiot friends, no matter how much they had grown on you. But your friend could hold her own, her no nonsense attitude endearing her to the girls as she chewed out Logan for some dumbass comment while Dylan and Chaz just chuckled that now there were two of you.

This was one of the few things that you actually felt out of your element with, since you could not give a single fuck about sailing with your stupid seasickness. But you could tell Ran was enjoying himself, and every fucking time he got near the water he looked so fucking windswept and dreamy so it was well worth the nausea. That was all gone now though, the scopolamine making you feel just the tiniest bit drowsy and pleasantly warm while Ran pulled you tight against his chest as he whistled for his team’s boat between nuzzling himself into your hair with pleased little hums. Even Linda giving you some vicious side eye couldn’t break you out of your good mood, the warmth of Ransom wrapped around you like a balm for your typical nervous energy. Then you heard Jess mutter an “oh shit” and the sound of a bratty, whiny voice broke right through your pleasant haze and made your spine stiffen.

“Rannie?” That fucking blonde bitch would show up to something like this, just to ruin your day. “I thought that was you. Oh, still with your tramp, I see.”

“Sloane.” His grip around you grew almost painfully tight, growling into your neck as he did his best to take deep breaths. “Don’t you have some puppies to skin, or something?”

You grabbed his hand and wound your fingers through his as you felt him tense up, pressing your lips to the inside of his wrist in an attempt to help him calm down. It had been your sincere hope that after you beat the shit out of this cunt you would never have to see her again, but when had you ever been that lucky?

“Aww, Rannie, thought you couldn’t talk without this bitch’s permission.” She looked mildly uncomfortable when you shifted your gaze to her, your eyes narrowing in a warning that she chose to ignore. “Been missing you a whole lot, baby, when’re you gonna stop slumming around?”

“What the fuck do you want, Sloane?” You were chanting over and over in your head that you were not going to fight this cunt, catching Anne starting to square up from the corner of your eye and giving her a small shake of the head to get her to stand down.

“I’m not talking to you, slut.” She must’ve been drunk, you had definitely taught her her lesson last time. “Just because you can give this bastard a good, sloppy fuck doesn’t mean you get to keep him. You don’t know what he really needs, and he’s too fucking stupid to tell you. God, you’re only sticking with him because he’s such a good fuck, right? That’s like, his only redeeming quality, except for the money. And you and your low class pussy don’t even know what to do with such a fine piece of eye candy.”

“Ok, you need to leave, Sloane.” Ransom may have been full of the anxiety he always felt around his ex, but the way your whole body was wound tight like a spring let him know you were ready to get violent. So he pressed a brief, soothing kiss to your hair and moved to guide this drunk bitch away from another beating.

“Don’t you fucking touch me, god, you really are a fucking moron.” Sloane jerked away from him when he tried to guide her away from your group, turning and sneering derisively at him. “Fuck’s sake, Linda was right, she really should have aborted you so we wouldn’t have to deal with your stupid bull shit.”

“What the fuck did you just say?” You reached your arm out to grip Ransom’s shoulder on instinct when he recoiled like he had been slapped, pulling him towards you protectively as you stared disbelieving at the people around you. “What the fuck did she just say?”

Sloane was just grinning at you wickedly as she sipped on her drink, like she had never and would never do anything wrong in her life. You almost forgot your promise you’d made to not get yourself kicked out of this event, but then Ran was clutching at your waist and making a choked sound and you turned back to him with concern.

There was no one to hold back Anne though, and she hadn’t made any promises about being on her best behavior. So she handed Ben her purse and punched that bitch right in the jaw.

You just gave a grateful look to your best friend before she bitch slapped that twat, security already starting to rush towards the fight as you guided Ransom towards the parking lot while he tried to regulate his breathing.

“Baby? Hey, Ran, look at me.” You’d never seen him look so completely lost, his eyes glistening with pent up emotion when you finally got him to look at you and you felt your heart break. “Oh honey, can you make it to the car?” He just nodded at you as another strangled sob escaped his throat and every fiber of your being ached to give him some form of comfort. “Ok, gimme the keys.”

He handed them to you and you wound your arm around him to guide him towards the beemer, letting him lean heavily on your shoulder and murmuring soft, soothing noises to him as you tried to think of something you could do for him. You knew that bitch was an abusive piece of work but Ran had been so hesitant to talk about it and you didn’t want to push him about it before he was ready, but if the way he reacted to her barb was any indication of how she treated him you might end up killing that bitch.

Ransom’s breathing seemed even more ragged by the time you reached the beemer, barely giving you a chance to shove the front seat down so the two of you could climb into the back and you could instruct him to stretch out over your lap. Your own throat was starting to get tight when he let out a wretched sob, the fingers of one hand running through his hair while the other smoothed over his chest as you watched his face closely.

“Baby, I need you to breathe for me, ok?” You were trying your best to keep your voice low and even, taking a deep breath and waiting for him to mirror your actions until he was pressing his face to your stomach with a piteous whine once his breathing had regulated slightly. “That’s it, you’re doing so good, Ran, just keep breathing.” 

He sighed deeply when you continued murmuring soft words of praise to him, his fingers curling over yours on his chest as he looked up at you and felt the softness of your gaze spread like warmth through his body. 

“I’m sorry.” He moaned when you pulled gently on his hair, his voice raspy with the tears he’d managed to swallow.

“No, baby.” You curled over him and brushed your lips over his forehead, trying not to cry when he wrapped his arms around your neck and let out another shaky breath. “You don’t apologize, ever, you hear me?”

“I thought I was over this shit.” He buried his face in your neck and breathed deep, your warm scent washing over him and finally making him relax. “I don’t want to put this on you.”

“Listen to me, Ransom.” You pulled back a little so you could gaze into his eyes, resting your forehead against his and maneuvering until you were laying next to him across the backseat. “I don’t know if you really think I’m just with you for the sex or what, but when I say I love you, I fucking mean it. I love all of you, so much, and that means that you can put all of it on me, ok? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Fuck, I love you, too.” He whined when you pressed your lips to his gently, drinking you in and pulling you to him as tight as possible when you let him deepen the kiss. “Need you so much.”

“I know, Ransom, I’m here.” You moved your lips up to his cheeks when he finally let his tears start to fall, kissing each one that stained his cheeks as you splayed your body over his while he held you. “My sweet boy, it’s ok. Let go for me, baby.”

He buried his face in your shoulder and did as you asked. It wasn’t loud or dramatic, but you could feel the warm wetness of his tears against the bare flesh of your neck while his chest heaved against yours. You cooed soft words of encouragement into his hair as he wept, letting a few of your own tears fall as you felt the tension slowly seep from his body.

Neither of you were sure how long you laid there tangled with each other, but eventually Ransom felt the last of the pain drain out of him until he was sinking against the seat with exhaustion. Having you there with him was like a balm for his soul, the way your eyes moved to search his once you felt him let out a deep sigh making his lips quirk in a small smile. His eyes were brilliantly blue from the tears he had shed, but you could see a glimmer of something hopeful there, and that made you relax. You sighed when he framed your face with his hands and pulled your lips back to his, the kiss chaste but full of emotion that he was too exhausted to vocalize at the moment.

“You ready to go home?” You pressed your hand over his heart when you leaned back a little, glad to feel that it had slowed down to a normal rhythm as he nodded for you. “Ok, you just stay back here and rest, alright? When we get home I’m gonna draw us a nice bath and we’ll just spend the rest of the day vegging.”

“That sounds good.” He watched you climb back into the front seat with a deep breath, squeezing your hand when you let it linger on his chest before letting you pull it away with reluctance.

You peeked at him through the rear view mirror before pulling out, relieved when you watched his eyes drift closed as he sagged into the seat and let his exhaustion take over. It almost hurt you how much you loved that man, and if you ever saw that cunt who hurt him again, there was a good chance you were going to jail for him.

Ransom was still dozing by the time you pulled up to the house, but he roused quickly when he felt you shake him awake. He let you help him out of the car and smiled warmly at you when you brought your hand up to cup his jaw, humming contentedly when you let him bury his face in your hair as you guided him into the house.

You pressed a kiss to his cheek once you were inside and instructed him to go to the en suite while you got some wine, watching him closely as he headed up the stairs before moving to grab a good bottle from the rack. There was a buzzing from your purse and you pulled out your phone, texting Anne that everything was ok and no, you didn’t need her to smash that bitch’s windows in. She was detailing all the ways she was going to fuck that cunt up and making you chuckle when suddenly the last caller ID you expected flashed across your screen.

“Can I help you with something, Linda?” You poured the Syrah into a decanter and moved to grab a couple of glasses, curious why exactly she was calling you.

“Y/N…” she sounded massively uncomfortable but you could not bring yourself to give a single fuck. “I just… I heard what Sloane said and I wanted to make sure Ransom was alright. He wasn’t answering my calls though.”

“Good for him.” You chewed on your lip as you considered what you wanted to say to her. “Was she lying?”

“What?”

“Did you tell your own child you should have aborted him? Or was that abusive cunt you kept forcing down your son’s throat being a lying bitch?” 

“I never… I didn’t tell him.” She still sounded like she thought she was in the right, and you might have spit in her face if she was in front of you.

“Oh, but you said it, didn’t you?” You sneered and downed the glass of wine you’d poured when you saw her number pop up. She didn’t deny it, and you quickly moved to pour yourself another glass. “You’re a fucking piece of work, Linda.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you.” You could  practically hear her spine straightening over the phone and you rolled your eyes at her. “You don’t know what it was like trying to raise him. Stubborn and spoiled and…”

“Goodbye, Linda. Don’t fucking call either of us again.” You hung up before she could continue, tossing your phone across the counter and draining your glass before grabbing the decanter and glasses before heading upstairs.

“Hey, baby.” He was already soaking when you walked into the steam filled en suite, his head leaning back against the edge of the drop in tub and giving you a lazy grin. “You have trouble picking a wine?”

“No.” You set the decanter and glasses on the tray at the tub’s edge and pinned your hair off your neck before getting undressed and sliding into the water with him. “I had to talk to your mother.” 

“Oh, you had to?” He pulled you against his chest and sighed when you tucked your face into his neck.

“Yeah, I wanted to make sure she didn’t disturb us for the rest of the weekend.” You took a deep breath when he started trailing his fingers over your spine, the warmth of the water seeping through your body and helping you relax as you sank into him. “You wanna talk about what happened?”

“Later.” His arms wound tightly around you, nuzzling into your hair and breathing in the scent of you that always made him feel like he was home. “Just wanna hold you for now.”

New Releases

The end of 2021 is upon us and another year of wonderful releases. There is still one more month of highly anticipated novels, so which one of these will you be adding to your TBR pile?

Week of Nov. 29

Girls of Fate and Fury (Girls of Paper and Fire #3) by Natasha Ngan Jimmy Patterson

“Don’t struggle, Lei-zhi. It’s time to take you back to the Hidden Palace. You’re going home.”

The final pages of Girls of Storm and Shadow brought a jaw-dropping conclusion that had the fates of Lei and Wren hanging in uncertainty. But one thing was certain – the Hidden Palace was the last place that Lei would ever consider home. The trauma and tragedy she suffered behind those opulent walls would plague her forever. She could not be trapped there with the sadistic king again, especially without Wren.

The last Lei saw of the girl she loved, Wren was fighting an army of soldiers in a furious battle to the death. With the two girls torn apart and each in terrorizing peril, will they find each other again or have their destinies diverged forever?

Girls of Fate and Fury is the epic conclusion to the “glittering” and “adrenaline-soaked” series by Natasha Ngan, hailed as “a stunning, new talent” for her “beautiful, lush, lyrical” writing.

Week of Dec. 6

The Righteous (The Beautiful #3) by Renée Ahdieh Hodder & Stoughton

Pippa Montrose is tired of losing everything she loves. When her best friend Celine disappears under mysterious circumstances, Pippa resolves to find her, even if the journey takes her into the dangerous world of the fae, where she might find more than she bargained for in the charismatic Arjun Desai.

Renée is back with her rich, atmospheric fantasy world that will continue to enthrall readers, new romance and mystery, and lush, pacey writing.

Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman Viking

Amanda Gorman’s remarkable new collection reveals an energizing and unforgettable voice in American poetry. Call Us What We Carry is Gorman at her finest. Including “The Hill We Climb,” the stirring poem read at the inauguration of the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, and bursting with musical language and exploring themes of identity, grief, and memory, this lyric of hope and healing captures an important moment in our country’s consciousness while being utterly timeless.

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes Bloomsbury YA

All Luis Gonzalez wants is to go to prom with his boyfriend, something his “progressive” school still doesn’t allow. Not after what happened with Chaz Wilson. But that was ages ago, when Luis’s parents were in high school; it would never happen today, right? He’s determined to find a way to give his LGBTQ friends the respect they deserve (while also not risking his chance to be prom king, just saying…).

When a hit on the head knocks him back in time to 1985 and he meets the doomed young Chaz himself, Luis concocts a new plan-he’s going to give this guy his first real kiss. Though it turns out a conservative school in the ’80s isn’t the safest place to be a gay kid. Especially with homophobes running the campus, including Gordo (aka Luis’s estranged father). Luis is in over his head, trying not to make things worse-and hoping he makes it back to present day at all.

In a story that’s fresh, intersectional, and wickedly funny, David Valdes introduces a big-mouthed, big-hearted queer character that readers won’t soon forget.

Fools In Love: Fresh Twists on Romantic Tales Edited by Ashley Herring Blake & Rebecca Podos Running Press Kids

Join fifteen bestselling, award-winning, and up-and-coming authors as they reimagine some of the most popular tropes in the romance genre.

Fake relationships. Enemies to lovers. Love triangles and best friends, mistaken identities and missed connections. This collection of genre-bending and original stories celebrates how love always finds a way, featuring powerful flora, a superhero and his nemesis, a fantastical sled race through snow-capped mountains, a golf tournament, the wrong ride-share, and even the end of the world. With stories written by Rebecca Barrow, Ashley Herring Blake, Gloria Chao, Mason Deaver, Sara Farizan, Claire Kann, Malinda Lo, Hannah Moskowitz, Natasha Ngan, Rebecca Podos, Lilliam Rivera, Laura Silverman, Amy Spalding, Rebecca Kim Wells, and Julian Winters this collection is sure to sweep you off your feet.

Week of Dec. 27

Here’s to Us (What If It’s Us #2) by Becky Albertalli & Adam Silvera Quill Tree Books

Ben has spent his first year of college working on his fantasy manuscript with his writing partner Mario, who is a great Spanish tutor, and an even better kisser. So why can’t he stop thinking about the fact that Arthur’s back in town two years after they called it quits?

Arthur is in New York for a dream internship on Broadway, with a boyfriend back at home that he couldn’t be happier with. But when he comes upon Ben cuddled up with a mystery boy, he starts to wonder if his feelings for Ben ever truly went away.

Even as the boys try to focus on their futures, they can’t seem to help running into each other in the present. Is the universe forcing them to question if they’re actually meant to be?

Possibly not. After all, things didn’t work the first time around. Possibly yes. After all, the sparks are still flying. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith and raise a glass.

Here’s to celebrating old friends! Here’s to embracing new beginnings! Here’s to believing in second chances!

Wayhaven Week 2020 Day 4

Pairing: Felix/F!Detective (Grace Buckley) Prompt: Tranquil/Thrill Note: 90% of this is just my detective fawning over Felix and you know what? It’s what he deserves.

--

Adam would be proud of him, Grace thinks, amused, as she watches Felix frown in concentration, fully absorbed in his task. He’s taken to the new information like a fish to water and Grace’s heart swells with affection for the vampire at her side. The two have spent the entire afternoon with her explaining everything and running him through the basics, and she struggles to think of an instance she’s seen him more focused on learning; it’s inexplicably adorable.

“Babe!” Felix jumps suddenly, jolting her out of her thoughts. “Look at that, my Pidove evolved!”

Then again, she doubts Adam would approve the focus of that intense concentration is Pokemon, of all things.

This raises another curious thought if Adam even knows what Pokemon is, but that’s a question for another day. Right now, Grace can’t really pay attention to anything but Felix, which, in general, seems to be the case quite often. She shifts around to prop her chin on his shoulder and glances down at her old 3DS in his hands.

“Wait, you have a shiny Tranquill?”

He does his best to shift his head around and look at her. “What’s a shiny Tranquill?”

They haven’t covered the topic of shinies yet, mostly because Grace didn’t think it was essential information, but now here Felix is, with a shiny on his very first time playing the game. She would be more surprised, really, but it only serves to confirm something she’s known for a while now; Felix is no ordinary man in a way that has nothing to do with the fact he isn’t human.

She can’t stop herself from pressing a quick kiss to his cheek and basks in the way a familiar grin spreads on his lips.

“I think I like that whole shiny Tranquill thing.” He winks at her, or at least does his best to with their faces so close together, before adding, “No, but really. What is it?”

“Well, basically, a shiny is just a regular pokemon with different colouring. They’re usually pretty rare, though. Less than a 1% chance to get one.”

Felix’s eyes gleam. “I guess I’m just that lucky then,” he says, and as he meets her eye once again, his gaze so warm and affectionate, it’s hard not to think he means more than just Pokemon. Grace can’t stifle a smile.

“Keep it up and you’ll be the very best in no time at all,” she reassures, referencing the show’s theme song. They listened to it earlier and Felix seems to enjoy it very much, if their impromptu karaoke sessions throughout the afternoon are of any indication.

They continue playing for some time, with Grace’s head remaining propped up on his shoulder, her arms wrapped around him. Despite her excitement over the existence of the supernatural world, she finds she enjoys those quiet, mundane moments with Felix just as much. Not that moments with him can usually qualify as ‘quiet’, but his voice is quickly becoming one of her favourite sounds so it’s not like she minds.

The game seems to be going well too. By the time he reaches Slateport City, Felix has assembled one of the cutest teams she’s ever seen, which makes the following exchange inevitable, really, when she thinks of it.

“Wait, contests? You never mentioned that!” he says as if she’s committed a personal offence against him and in retrospect, yeah, she thinks she should’ve figured he’d be interested in that.

“They’re not really a thing in most of the other games,” she admits somewhat sheepishly. “I guess I just sorta forgot.”

“They’re not? Why not? I wanna show off my adorable pokemon.”

“To be honest, contests were pretty crappy back in the day. It was just piling accessories on top of your pokemon and hoping for the best.” Felix’s expression tells her her explanation’s done nothing to discourage him and Grace laughs. “Trust me, it sounds a lot more fun than it is.”

“But in this one it’s better?”

“Definitely. And you know, I don’t think I ever collected all the ribbons in any of my playthroughs.”

Naturally, Felix absolutely cannot move on until he has all of them. His journey to becoming the very best is quickly sidelined in favour of becoming top coordinator and honestly, as long as he’s having fun Grace is happy. Late afternoon seamlessly bleeds into early evening, but neither of them pays any particular attention to the change outside, much too wrapped up in their little bubble of joy and casual domesticity.

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Grace thinks about how she could never enjoy moments like these with Bobby. He never really showed interest in any of her hobbies, much less tried them out himself. And she’s not in the habit of thinking about Bobby, usually, but with how much he’s inserted himself back into her life as of late, it seems inevitable not to notice how much he falls short when compared to her new boyfriend.

Boyfriend. The mere word is enough to send her heart into a flutter and Grace snuggles deeper into Felix at the feeling.

“This is taking so long,” he complains as he fails to win another ribbon. “How did Chaz beat me? My Tranquill is way cuter than his Mychoke.”

“Machoke,” Grace corrects with a smile. “Why don’t you make some pokeblocks and feed them to Tranquill? That should give you an extra edge in the first round.”

Felix takes her advice and in the next contest, he manages to beat Chaz by a few points.

“Ha!” He pulls away from Grace in order to fully turn around and face her. His grin is wide, his amber eyes practically sparkling, and Grace already feels an answering smile tug at her lips, a subconscious response to his excitement. “Gracie, you’re a genius.”

“I do take great pride in my Pokemon knowledge.” She laughs but pulls him in for a quick kiss anyway. At the very least, it’s supposed to be a quick kiss but once their lips touch, she can’t help but get distracted and the kiss lingers.

A part of her marvels at how no matter how many times they kiss, it still never fails to give her butterflies. She doesn’t consider herself particularly sappy or overly romantic, but with Felix, everything just feels more meaningful and exciting.

“We should do that more often,” he grins at her once they part.

“What, kiss?”

“Well, yeah, definitely that too. But I meant more the whole ‘spending time together without crazy killers or deadly illnesses lurking around’.”

Once again she smiles, something she seems to do a lot around Felix. “I’d like that. And technically, we still haven’t even had an official first date.”

He blinks as though the thought has only now occurred to him. “Let’s go on a date then.”

“Right now?”

“Why not?”

Well. No time like the present, Grace supposes and nods along, giddiness rising in her chest. “Okay. Sure. Let’s go on a date.”

A familiar cheeky grin spreads on Felix’s lips and makes his entire face light up; Grace is pretty sure her heart skips a beat.

“This is going to be the best date ever,” he says and she has no doubt he’s right.

--

Tranquill: a dual-type Normal/Flying Pokémon that evolves from Pidove starting at level 21.

@otomefandomevents

Belvedere Park vs Silver Knights: 25/01/2020

Proudly sponsored by Pocket Rocket Marketing; The Laurels Motor Company; BWT (Best Water Treatment) and Bella Italia. An away day up the A38 to Burton on Trent with our new formation in mind. The boys looked fresh as they stepped out to warm up and looked ready to take on the Belvedere squad. The Ref had words with the linesmen and insisted that he was old school and did it the old way, hence the linesmen were back to front: running the line next to our right back rather than left back, a bit like used to happen in the 1970s! It was such a breath of fresh air to see the boys in a new formation and testing different positions. We half expected Jack to be in goal and Jonty to step into centre back but they were rightly left in their normal roles: ha-ha! So, today’s formation starting team was: back three Harley, Jack and Gabe; Sam and Mason in the holding positions with a midfield consisting of Ollie, Archie, Alfie and Will. Today’s striker was Chaz, with Jonty in goals. The Silvers settled straight into the game and moved the ball quickly up top to Chaz who started to test the Belvedere defence. Archie came into his own and had an early shot at goal to test the keeper as did Will. Harley, Jack and Gabe were in control at the back, playing with confidence and keeping the line tight whilst Sam and Mason were solid in their holding positions. A long throw-in from Archie reached Chaz who rose to flick it over his head to land straight into Will’s path for him to strike home for a deserved 1-0 lead to the Silvers. The Silvers looked like they were enjoying this system and didn’t disappoint the Gaffer with some excellent football from everyone and the confidence showed in bundles. A few subs were made and Theo got right into the midfield battle, working hard and chasing the ball down as did Jasper on the right wing, working the line and finding space. Josh took up a holding position and was tackling anything that stepped across his path. The Silvers first half performance had been superb and going into second half in the lead was the boost we needed. However, the Belvedere boys came out all guns blazing and took early control of the game putting pressure on us straight away. We were all absolutely gobsmacked when Jack passed the ball back to Jonty off his knee and the old school ref blew for a pass back! Thankfully they didn’t score from the resultant free kick, or I’m not sure what would have kicked off on the sidelines!! To be honest, we lost our way a bit in the second half and were tending to invite them into our own half as we were playing too deep and unfortunately this resulted in a Belvedere equaliser. However, we continued to try to get back to our formation and as we pushed forward Theo made a dash towards the area and was taken clean out just inside the box but the ref only gave us a free kick just outside the area! Yet again, we were flabbergasted at another terrible decision! At this point in the game we had to make more attacks and move the ball to our advantage which we had a good few chances to do but couldn’t hold on to the draw as the Belvedere boys tipped their noses in front with a late goal. The final score was a frustrating 2-1 loss (again!) but more frustrating for the boys, the coaches and the spectators is the curse of the referees we continue to get week in week out. A great first half performance with a lot of positives moving forward to next week’s game. Up the Silvers!!!!!!!

Younger post-ep ramble 6x08

When episodes of TV shows are touted as 'epic' or 'game changing' I tend to proceed with caution, because chances of it living up to the hype are generally pretty slim. When it comes to Younger though, I should know better than to doubt such claims and 'Debu-taunt' (another pun-tastic title btw) really has changed the game and delivered some of the most poignant and meaningful character interactions of the series. This week's episode got back to the core of what this show is about: the female friendships in all their complexity. We saw lovely moments that deepened Diana and Liza's romantic relationships too of course, but these ultimately amplified the supportive and supporting role the men play in the women's lives. I've gotta say, I found this week's ramble hard to write because where do you start with an episode you've been anticipating for so long? The beginning, let's start at the beginning...

The episode opens with Liza and Charles living out some kind of domestic morning fantasy (minus the grapefruit for me thanks) and seeing the townhouse kitchen area in the daylight was something new, it's so much bigger than I realised! The entire scene is so aesthetically pleasing, particularly the Charles-in-a-vest-and-shirt situation as well as coordination of tie and Liza's dress, but of course it serves the far greater purpose of letting us know that Liza has fully integrated into the lives of Nicole and Bianca, right down to helping with homework and offering to drop a forgotten report off at school. It has been quite a few seasons since we saw or heard from the Brooks children and I fully appreciate catching a glimpse of Charles in dad-mode on the phone to Bianca, it's easy to forget that these characters have these other dimensions to their lives (speaking of which, is there some kind of alert out for Caitlin at this point? The lack of texts or calls or mentions is curious...Caitlin, if you're reading this, we're not mad, just let us know you're ok). Charles' gratitude to Liza for going to the school naturally makes my sappy heart swell, the 'I don't deserve you' only made better by his tardiness not being enough to stop him going back for a second kiss goodbye.

Pesky climate change forces Liza to discover she does not have a coat at Charles', but fortunately for her there is an entire closet full of coats, which naturally she does not question and is definitely not some kind of set up for a run in with the ex. Except it is of course and even as a viewer I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me watching Pauline ask Liza if the unexpectedness of their run in is why she is wearing her coat (seriously, I'm overwhelmed with second hand embarrassment typing this). Also, what was Pauline doing there? Just hanging out at the school for reasons or was she lurking in case Charles turned up with the report so she could catch a peek of him in a three-piece? While this remains a mystery (though who could blame her lbh), Pauline's desire to 'bury the hatchet' with Liza was def suspicious, but a nice distraction from the cringe-worthy, 'Bianca mentioned that she had two mommies' comment Mrs. Clipper makes before it's decided that Liza should be added to the pick-up list as she will 'be around for the long haul'. I am so grateful to see Liza showing that she is committed to and wants the life she has chosen with Charles in this episode. Regardless of what happens down the track, it's nice to see this character backing her own choices and decisions for now.

Any seasoned television watcher's alarm bells no doubt went off when Pauline cited the divorce negotiations as 'more or less behind us' (and again when Charles mentioned that 'it seems the worst is over' at the coffee station) because we all know that in the land of TV this 100% means it's only a matter of time before they will not be.

Keeping in the theme of wonderful character interactions, I may never get used to Charles and Liza just hanging out in the office (particularly Charles hovering around as an editor instead of the boss, but I am here for it until the end of time) and his adoring gaze as Liza recalls the awkward horror of her interaction with Pauline is topped off with a shared Harry Potter appreciation moment and honestly, these two and their nerd love, I cannot. The way the conversation about Liza moving in unfolded was so natural and yes, the answer is ALWAYS YES Liza when Charles Brooks suggests starting each day waking up together (insert swoon here). It turns out Liza doesn't overthink it, cue guilt pie and Pinot Noir with Maggie.  

These two are friendship goals times a thousand and Maggie's unwavering support upon hearing Liza talk about how she knows it's fast but it feels right epitomises the way these two only want one another's happiness (even if Maggie's expression as Liza goes to call Charles and tell him she will be moving in indicates she is going to very much miss her roommate). I loved hearing about and imagining them drinking wine and binging The Great British Bake Off and just how well they know and value one another, ugh, I could not gush more about all of it and this whole exchange felt like such a treat. I was envisioning Kelsey moving in once Liza moved out and I'm still holding out hope for this to happen when Liza does eventually make the move (remaining optimistic on this one even though I do pine for Liza/Maggie loft moments).

The sneak peek for this week showed us yet another golden interaction and that was, of course, Diana telling Charles about her engagement to Enzo. The main takeaways are a) Diana referring to herself as Charles' work wife and Charles's amused smile; b) Diana asking Charles for his blessing and him not really knowing why but giving it and; c) the longest hug in the world as Diana coaxes Charles into announcing her engagement to the office. I love that the interactions between these two always have a slightly awkward undertone but there is genuine care and warmth too. Diana telling Charles that he has always been able to read her like a book (lol) and the two sitting there with their hands together was just such a testament to their fabulously wacky relationship.

What better way to ensure that any DRAH-MAH unfolds in an overwhelmingly public forum than the morning meeting reveal that there is a Publishers Weekly Debutante Ball (for first time authors)  thrown every year! Turns out this is the event of the season, despite it being the first time Liza has heard about it (to be fair she has probs been distracted by the faux millennial facade previous years so didn't clock that this was a legit thing). I am digging Kelsey heading up and holding her own in these meetings, she is definitely stepping up to her new role it seems and I am keen to see how it continues to develop.  And those little looks across the conference room table between Charles and Liza, I see you.

Zane's gears still seem stuck on obnoxious since last ep, first throwing in Jake Devereux as a suggested author for the deb (a clear jab at Kelsey) and then putting his foot in it after hearing Diana's news by suggesting that DeLuca is 'better than Trout'. First of all, who in their right mind would say that out loud, let alone assume an established woman in her 40's (or any woman for that matter) is going to take a new husband's surname? Though Diana DeLuca is pretty great, I could definitely see her using it as an alias during future hi-jinx (preferably with Liza now that they can be actual proper friends, but I'm getting ahead of myself).

Right from the get go Her Majesty D. Trout is taking none of Zane's rubbish, asking him to use his words when he finally offers up PTB as a deb option and her zero tolerance for insolence continues when she corrects his question of who she's engaged to with, 'to whom'. At this stage of my love for this character, I'm really just wondering what sized portrait of Diana I should put in my shrine to her. This all comes out after Charles is prompted to announce Diana's big news (I'm kind of loving that Charles is a bit hopeless at remembering these sorts of details, last week when he'd failed to mention Bob and Julia would be on their table, then this week with the announcement...soon enough we'll be regaling ourselves with a collection of these, and we'll laugh and shake our heads as we mutter 'classic Chaz' under our breath) and it is of course Liza's reaction that is next level and so freaking OTT and I love it with every fibre of my being. Seriously, her yell-cheering and clapping is me in any excitement-inducing situation. My love for her love of Diana starts here and embarks on one hell of a ride from here onward during this ep.

While this episode certainly had a more serious tone than some others (I think this was definitely emphasised by the music choices too, there was a distinct lack of the usual pop/vocal and much more instrumental), Liza following Diana into her office semi-screeching, 'I'm so excited, why aren't you more excited?' met by Diana's 'Liza, please deactivate yourself', was hilarious. Diana asked Liza to be maid of honour in a way only Diana could and I tell you what, I damn delighted in that one hug a year. Everything about this scene was SO good, which of course meant that there was a dagger waiting right around the corner to plunge into our rib-cages and shatter our hearts into a million pieces (I wish I was being dramatic but where is the lie?)

That dagger's name is Pauline and it's during lunch that Liza discovers her real motivation for being all chummy and that is wanting Liza to help with her new book. Always a smart cookie, Liza agrees, in exchange for Pauline attending the Debutante Ball as Millennial's deb (I have to admit I did chuckle with the 'do you need to borrow a dress?' line). Despite dodgy af being Pauline's general modus operandi, I actually do think she was being sincere in her initial offer to move forward and let the whole 'you're-now-with-my-husband-and-my-kids-love-you-maybe-more-than-me-because-I-abandoned-them-for-a-year-at-a-pivotal-point-in-their-development' thing slide for the sake of maintaining some sort of relationship with her soon-to-be ex-husband and their children. If only she knew that the reason Liza understood her better than any of her current editors was because they were basically the same age and had similar life experiences...

...well THANK GOD for Mrs. Clipper, the true villain of the episode if you ask me, who quite frankly can't seem to get her paws on that copy of Liza's drivers license fast enough after Pauline tells her that men in her circle are always leaving their wives for assistants in their twenties. I might be off on an island on my own here, but you know what, I actually felt sorry for Pauline in this moment. In her mind Charles has also been deceived and by extension, her children, so I completely understand her initial reaction and feeling that she needs to tell Charles immediately and rescue him from this betrayal.

That all goes down at the Debutante Ball because it must of course, but first we catch Kelsey, Lauren and Zane reminiscing about their own proms at this prom for grown ups, with Lauren here for it and we unsurprisingly discover Zane was prom king (I heart Lauren's 'that tracks' comment). You always know whatever's about to go down is extra EXTRA when you see a couple of characters blissfully happy and unaware everything is about to implode, such as Charles and Liza celebrating their moving-in milestone, before Liza is whisked away backstage. When Charles is confronted by frantic Pauline and she discovers he knew about the lie too, I could imagine that up until that point she thought this would be something that would bond them in outrage, but it ended up being just another blow. While Pauline clearly has impulse issues and a pretty prominent vindictive streak, I do think it's one thing to wrap her head around her husband falling in love with a younger woman (though I do not understand on what planet Pauline thought she could piss off for a year on her own terms with zero communication and then just return to her life and there would be no upheaval) but the discovery that it was someone she could consider a peer would cut deeper.

As Pauline latched on to Liza's arm, it was like watching a live animal being led into the lion enclosure at dinner time.  I'm breaking out in a stress sweat just thinking about this scene, even though you could see it coming it was utterly shocking to watch unfold. The announcer emphasising that theirs was the only partnership in which the mentor was younger ensured the dagger was perfectly lined up before Pauline once again applied some revisionist history to her abandonment of the family, making a point of coming across as the blameless victim whose husband was 'lost' to the assistant standing beside her. As Pauline keeps talking Charles is clearly wary and concerned about where this is going and Kelsey quickly clues in just as Pauline drops that Liza is in fact 42 years old and the entire room gasps and murmurs and revels in the audacious reveal.

Enter Diana and that dagger is twisted well and truly into my fragile heart as she immediately assumes that 'this woman is deranged' and jumps to the defence of Liza, despite Charles and Liza trying to stop her. The fact that Diana tells Charles that she will not let this woman 'slander us', that she sees them as one united team, and holds Liza in such high esteem that she would put her own fear of making a scene aside to protect Liza's integrity, only made Liza's confirmation that 'it's true' even more heart-shattering. Miriam Shor deserves every damn award created for her acting in this entire episode, but the last 10 minutes in particular are nothing short of phenomenal. When Diana realises that Charles and Kelsey knew and that she had just made a spectacle of herself in front of a room full of the most important people in publishing, her need to escape is understandable and a panic attack is not an unreasonable physical response to such a huge revelation in such a public forum (I mean I was basically having one watching it all tbh).

Enzo's relief upon hearing that it was a panic attack is palpable and the interaction between him and Diana in the hospital may well be my favourite between these two yet. We see Diana as we've never seen her in this series; vulnerable, emotional, no necklace and no makeup. Always one to deliver a stellar line, her response to Enzo's 'how are you?',  'I'm fine, I've just lost trust in humanity as a whole, but other than that I'm fine', was on point and Enzo's response that 'she looks good' when Diana shares Liza's true age was A+ (for line and delivery). It is Diana's embarrassment at being that 'village idiot' when everybody else knew (I really wanted to somehow jump into my screen in that moment and tell her that Lauren and Zane didn't know either, it's not just you!) that took my heart pieces and trampled on them some more. I think it's because she is always so composed and controlled, but seeing Diana holding onto Enzo and saying that she just wants him, demonstrates how much he steadies her and allows her to be herself.

Just outside the room, Charles and Liza face a step back as Pauline has phoned to say she wants to re-visit the custody agreement (which I really struggle to see the relevance of or how Liza saying she was younger is anywhere near as bad as up and leaving your two small children for a year but sure, I'll play along for the sake of drama), which means that they cannot move in together as planned, Liza's lie has now impacted the man she loves as well as Diana and Charles feels responsible for Pauline exposing Liza the way she did. Liza reassuring Charles that he was just protecting her and the way he pulled her in to comfort her made any remnants of my shattered heart swell. It was such a tender moment between them and there was something about the parallel of Enzo comforting Diana in the room at the same time, whether intentional or not, that really stressed the uncertainty and distress both women were experiencing.

Josh phoning Liza to give her a hard time about being an upper East side lady was actually a really nice way to see this friendship developing (I would definitely expect my friends to do that) because had the timing not been so atrocious, I assume it would've been an otherwise pleasant conversation in which he would be happy for her (that's what I'm going with anyway). Obviously this call was to show that Liza's lie has once again stonewalled her and stopped her being able to move forward in her life and that she feels she's messed up everything at work and for Charles with his kids. Since learning that there were a number of deleted scenes, including the one in which Diana got her engagement ring, I must say that I feel like the phone call could probably have been omitted in lieu of progressing Diana's story for this episode and the choice to include it definitely feels like an extremely contrived attempt to stoke the triangle.

The fallout from the age reveal will no doubt play out over the coming episodes, however Lauren and Zane are still trying to wrap their heads around it the next morning (and again Zane, why on EARTH do you think you would've been someone who should know this information? I think I can count on one hand the number of conversations I've seen Liza and Zane have. Actually, no I can't because it's so few I can't even remember one) but I will say that I paused on the article Lauren is reading and Jackie Dunn has given a statement in it and this show, I swear, it outdoes itself even when no-one might notice. I appreciated Kelsey's itchy scalp to emphasise the stress of the situation and Lauren addressing Liza as 'Ma'am' was pretty darn funny (though I am a bit surprised at Lauren's reaction. I thought she'd be more intrigued and want to know all the details of how she did it etc.) But it is the final 3 minutes of this week's episode that absolutely blew me away and left me quite literally crying on the train as I watched.

There have been moments that have made me tear up and certainly times when character interactions have held such meaning on this show that the feelings are many, but there really never has been a scene like the one between Diana and Liza at the end of this week's episode of Younger. Diana's minimal make up and jewellery emphasised the rawness and realness of the entire exchange. Diana saying that she wouldn't have hired Liza if she'd known and Liza being able to say, 'exactly', made the point of why she told the initial lie so simply. In that moment Diana can understand Liza's need to lie about her age, but it is Diana's search for why, beyond that initial deceit, did Liza fetch her coffee and lunch and her urine samples...and hold her hand on the red carpet and convince her to go after Enzo...that she needs to know if everything else was real or was it part of the ploy to uphold the lie. Seeing Diana with her heart on her sleeve, needing to know if her perception of their relationship was a farce, was one of the most powerful moments, if not THE most powerful moment of this series. 

The resolution, that ‘honesty is the best policy’ and that Liza is no longer her maid of honour but her ‘old maid of honour’ could not have been more perfect. And in case I wasn’t already a blubbering mess, Diana’s emotional, ‘I just want to say...’ which Liza instinctively answered with, ‘I love you too’ did me in completely and honestly, the whole thing is so sublime, what an absolute gift.  No words I write can do justice to the incredible performances of Miriam Shor and Sutton Foster so I really can only suggest you go and watch the final scene again for yourself.

This episode of Younger really was something else. After five and a half seasons, Liza is finally free from her lie, she can FINALLY live her life without wondering if or when or how it is going to catch up with her. It feels like a big sigh of relief. For me this episode also showed how much more compelling it is for the drama to sit in the space of these women navigating friendships and work dynamics and how much the focus on the triangle detracts from what this show is actually about. It's not that often you get to watch an episode of a show you love and think, 'that episode is going to go down as one of the best in the series', but 'Debu-taunt' will without a doubt hold it's place as one of the best.   

13 college football recruits to know before National Signing Day

Welcome to The Crootletter (sign up to get this in your inbox every morning!), SB Nation's daily college football recruiting newsletter.

A couple thousand high school football players will sign their National Letters of Intent on Feb. 1. This post is a rundown of 13 you should know, either because they’re really good or really interesting in some fashion or another.

The No. 1 overall player

Five-star Redlands (Calif.) defensive end Jaelan Phillips, a UCLA commit, is the top player on the 247Sports Composite, which gathers industry opinion from the other major recruiting agencies. Phillips is a UCLA legacy who’s gone from No. 375 to No. 1 on the Composite in the last 16 months.

At a listed 6’5 and 253 pounds, he’s strong enough to be a bear but quick enough to slide around offensive tackles while barely touched. He should contribute quickly for Jim Mora’s program.

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No. 1 overall recruit says UCLA is 'family'

Five-star UCLA DE commit Jaelan Phillips is the 247Sports Composite's No. 1 overall recruit for 2017. His dad was a Bruin, and now Jaelan's carrying the family torch.

Posted by SB Nation College Football on Friday, January 20, 2017

The two best bets to make college football fans miss Dalvin Cook and Leonard Fournette just a bit less

College football is losing some amazing running backs to the NFL draft this season, but the 2016 class is here to save the day. And two very special players have already enrolled and are ready to take part in spring practice.

Alabama signee Najee Harris, of Antioch (Calif.), and Florida State signee Cam Akers, of Clinton (Miss.), are deserving Nos. 1-2, in whichever order you prefer. Harris has rare agility for a 6’3, 226-pound running back. He is more fluid than Derrick Henry was at the same age. And he also catches the football well. Akers’ size/speed combination at 210 pounds is freakish. Most of the players who can accelerate like Akers can weigh 170 pounds, not 210. That makes a big difference when trying to arm tackle someone.

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Cam Akers counter play

Cutting up clips from Army All-American Bowl practices, and this one of Cam Akers made us think of Dalvin Cook. Look familiar?

Posted by TomahawkNation.com on Thursday, January 5, 2017

The players who will provide the best late drama

The top uncommitted player on the board is five-star Episcopal (Texas) defensive tackle Marvin Wilson, who’s likely to pick either Florida State or LSU, or maybe Ohio State. Wilson is listed at 6’4 and 329 pounds, and he’s got his own brutal combination of power and quicks.

He’ll contribute somewhere immediately, whether that’s as a 3-4 nose tackle or a 4-3 three-technique tackle, lining up between a guard and offensive tackle.

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LSU, FSU on top for Marvin Wilson

Florida State Seminoles Football and LSU Football have a great shot at this five-star defensive tackle. One big reason? Fellow recruits are going after him.

Posted by SB Nation College Football on Thursday, December 29, 2016

Five-star Lee (Ga.) County defensive tackle Aubrey Solomon is a former Michigan commit, but he decommitted last summer. His stated reasoning involved the Wolverines spelling his name wrong and sending him a thank-you card for attending a barbecue he did not, in fact, attend.

SB Nation

Aubrey Solomon

Since then, he’s risen up recruiting rankings. He told SB Nation’s Bud Elliott a few weeks ago that Alabama was his leader. But Michigan and Georgia both seem to have real enough chances, too.

The fastest player, maybe

Four-star East St. Louis (Ill.) receiver Jeff Thomas won the fastest-man race at last summer’s Nike Opening recruiting showcase in Oregon. He ran past a bunch of people at the Under Armour All-America Game, where he was arguably the biggest star. He recently visited Miami, and most analysts think he’ll choose the Hurricanes.

The menacing offensive tackles who are going to Stanford

The country’s No. 2 and 3 tackles are both committed to David Shaw’s Cardinal. That’s five-stars Foster Sarell of Graham-Kapowsin (Wash.) and Walker Little of Episcopal (Texas). The No. 1 Composite tackle, Floridian Alex Leatherwood, is already enrolled at Alabama. But two’s better than one, and Stanford’s big, beautiful offensive line is going to eventually become a total powerhouse behind Sarell and Little.

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Foster Sarell is a generational talent

What an incredible commitment for Stanford. Foster Sarell is one of the highest-rated offensive tackles ever.

Posted by Rule of Tree on Saturday, January 7, 2017

The QB who’s going to run for so many yards, someday, at Alabama

Five-star dual threat Tua Tagovailoa is from Honolulu, Hawaii. He’s going to make a bit of a flight to get to Tuscaloosa, and the Tide are going to be glad he did. The soft-spoken Hawaiian says he picked the Tide, first and foremost, because of the program’s belief in God. Once Jalen Hurts moves on, Tagovailoa will be the front-runner to replace him as the Tide’s starter. He’ll run the zone-read brilliantly.

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Tua Tagovailoa's faith in God led him to Tide

Our partners at SB Nation caught up with Hawaiian QB recruit Tua Tagovailoa at the Elite 11 at Nike Football Headquarters. He spoke of knowing Alabama was the right cross-country move due the staff's faith in God. Plus, he details what the staff has in store for him in Tuscaloosa.

Posted by Roll 'Bama Roll on Wednesday, July 6, 2016

The next annoyingly dominant Alabama receivers?

Five-star Deerfield Beech receiver Jerry Jeudy is the total package. He’s 6’1, a great route-runner, extraordinarily athletic, and a reliable catcher of footballs. He committed to the Tide in July. Alabama’s had great success recruiting receivers in South Florida, previously fishing out stars like Amari Cooper and Calvin Ridley. Jeudy is probably next.

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Another elite WR picks Alabama

Alabama Football just landed yet another blue-chip, this time a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ WR from Florida named Jerry Jeudy

Posted by SB Nation College Football on Thursday, July 28, 2016

The recruiting world’s been abuzz lately about four-star Robert E. Lee (Ala.) receiver Henry Ruggs III. Ruggs was a standout during practices before the Army All-American Bowl in early January, and he’s widely expected to stay in state and play for the Tide.

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Henry Ruggs is an elite WR recruit

Henry Ruggs is known as a basketball star. But the four-star Alabama receiver recruit has more than great hops. He's showing excellent hands, too. Alabama and Florida State hope he signs with them. SB Nation has coverage of the U.S. Army All-American Bowl all week.

Posted by SB Nation College Football on Wednesday, January 4, 2017

The QB with the best chance to be really polarizing

That’s four-star Ohio State commit Tate Martell, from Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. Martell is a former Texas A&M and Washington commit, who first pledged to the Huskies when he was in the eighth grade.

Martell used to be a consensus five-star, but he lost a star during his senior season, and it’s hard to get evaluators to agree on how much better he can get. Martell is only about 5’10, and while he is undoubtedly one of the best high school quarterbacks in history, it’s unknown how good he will be in college. But concerns over his size may be overblown.

He’s an athlete, so if Martell can throw at the college level, he’ll do great in Urban Meyer’s spread-to-run system. If not, he probably won’t. Either way, he’ll be an Ohio State QB about whom people will have strongly held opinions.

Student Sports

Tate Martell

The top candidate for this year’s Recruiting All-Name Team who’s also a blue-chip

Meet Chaz Ah You, a four-star Timpview (Utah) safety who’s expected to play for his hometown school, BYU.

Leicester Road vs Silver Knights: 10/11/2018

A beautiful sunny morning after the previous night’s downpour saw the Silver Knights head off down the A5 to Hinckley, well all but Sam as Lisa and James had another SatNav melt down and went on a magical mystery tour of Leicester - ha, ha!

The 2 H’s were off today, Harry Hitchen egg chasing down London and Harley still plastered… I’ve told him to lay off those fruity ciders!!

A great set up awaited us and an earlier start than normal as understandably the Leicester boys wanted to take part in the parade to the King Power stadium to pay their respects over the sad loss of their Chairman, Khun Vichai. We also had a 2 minute silence before the game got underway to remember all the fallen soldiers on the hundredth anniversary of Armistice day.

The game got underway with a fast tempo and this is how it remained through both halves with both teams working hard and keen to get that early goal to settle the nerves. Our centre midfield duo of Archie & Theo was covering the ground at some pace and battling well to keep possession but the Leicester lads were just as keen to do the same so the battle commenced with some strong physical tackles to see who would come out on top. Meanwhile Gabe and Will, the super strikers up front, had their hands full too with the Leicester defence intercepting the ball at any given chance and their keeper sweeping up anything that came close.

The game was evenly matched and the Silvers were passing the ball around well trying to get the wingers Chaz and Jasper into play to feed the attacks up front. Mason was doing a great job of containing any movements around him and playing calmly through to the midfield.

The defence had to cope with two big Leicester forwards who showed their strength and power and, eight minutes in, their strength led to a chance which fell to the giant who buried it in the net: 0-1.

Jack soon marked their card, however, making some great clearances and Ollie and Reagan stood their ground as the Leicester boys made some speedy attacks. Some substitutions were made as Archie began to struggle and needed some time out so Sam and Josh got stuck straight into the battle and the first half finished 0-1 but the Silver Knights weren’t giving up this fight easily.

Throughout the second half Jonty was called for every ball and to be fair he hadn’t had any shots from the Leicester lads to save, so he remained in command of the Silvers’ defence.

A great bit of play by the Silvers put the pressure on the Leicester lads who passed the ball back to their keeper who in turn picked it up. However, there must be another rule in Hinckley about pass backs as the ref didn’t flinch and the game carried on. Sam intercepted a Leicester ball and spotted Will making a move and passed it straight into his path. Will made his move and then got brought down but again the ref did nothing.

Gabe was battling on the wing and managed to spot an early pass to Will who turned to shoot across the goal front where our Silver Knight poacher (Chaz) came sliding in to pop it in the net with a well-deserved goal: 1-1.

The battle carried on and then another injury as this time Theo had his ankles clattered, so now we had no midfielders on the pitch but we still never gave up and the tempo continued.

There then ensued what can only be described as a moment of slow motion as the ball somehow fell to the feet of a Leicester forward and he scuffed the ball goalwards. It seemed to everyone present that the ball was going wide, even Jonty wasn’t concerned, only for it to hit the far post and literally roll over the line! Gutted! 1-2. Despite continuing to give it their all, there was nothing further the boys could do and the match ended 1-2.

We had 13 of our own soldiers out there today who gave it their all for 70 minutes and showed real grit and determination. Our time will come, boys; keep up the hard work and the rewards will come.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the Leicester people and also to all the soldiers on Remembrance Sunday.

Up the Silvers!