Pop Until You Drop, Part Three

    The climax of the book takes place when Sam makes his ill-informed announcement, just as a severe thunderstorm hits.  He runs off, just like Jim and his wife did earlier.  So, Chris and his friends look for them in the building to find them, while the rest of the dinner party takes shelter in the basement.  When they find both the doors to the outside and the staircase on the first floor locked, they take shelter in a men's room.  To pass the time, Chris's friends reveal the secrets and miscommunications that ended their friendship for so long.  Now, I had much of these backstories in place for Dada, and I felt that I should include some of them here, since this break-up was an important part of how Chris is today.  The one thing I didn't include that I wanted to was the origin of their "Rounds," but I couldn't place it anywhere that made sense.  Let's start with Pete.  I added an older sister to balance out his family, but that might be a chance from the first book, as is his career as a math teacher.  I may have had him in a different field, but this is a better fit.  Originally, I was going to have him deliberately expose himself to his girlfriend, only to be caught by her father.  However, I changed this just before I wrote the chapter, as this would have made Pete a little bit too naughty.  Instead, I have him being caught by the father who unlocks the bathroom door to catch the boy who was getting too close to his daughter in a compromising situation.  This made Pete a victim like the others, albeit of a lesser nature.  Being suspended for two months was a little extreme, but it would cost him his Division I college quarterback career. I had hinted about this in the first book, particularly about his age, but the friends never cared about it that much.  Maybe if they were still together when Pete turned twenty-one, but that's beside the point.  I also came up with a pretty mundane reason for why Pete transferred to another school and moved away from his older home. I just added the twist about going to Tennessee and working on his Doctorate just to twist Chris off.  I just had to make Chris lower on the educational scale than his friends, to balance out his new-found wealthy family and all. I currently have Pete getting his degree, but getting drafted into state government (and winning) before he can use it.  For Rick, I wanted to emphasize how he was kind of shy as a kid, only to become more out-going after his operation that made him just like every other boy.  Getting a great gift in puberty didn't hurt either.  I always had Rick go into law to impress a potential girlfriend, the daughter of his attorney, rather than having her put Rick up to it, although that's what Chris had been thinking all along.  As to the doctor who put the pictures online, his outcome was always changing.  Quite a few times, I had him die of his injuries in prison, leading Rick to take up a nasty drinking habit from the guilt.  However, I didn't want the outcome of each of their troubles to end the same way.  Since a death worked better for Will, I just horrifically maimed the doctor instead.  Rick still feels guilty from this, but not enough to become a problem drinker.  Rick was still afraid of this, after Jim takes some of his beer, but I didn't want Rick to be an alcoholic, just close to being one.  I currently plan for Rick to take a long paternity leave after the birth of his second son to write a true-crime book.  It will probably make Rick more famous than Chris to the general public, and it would mark Rick's slow transition away from law.  Will was the hardest one to write, as his attack by Jim's best friend was never going to end well.  Will should have told someone what happened, but because he tried to take matters into his own hands, Will finds out about the abuse Ray was taking.  I originally had Will never see Ray after Ray graduated from high school, but I had Will see Ray at least one more time.  Ray was trying to get better, but I knew it wouldn't.  Originally, Ray was just going to stay missing, a drugged-out drifter who would barely keep in touch.  However, I kept waffling between that and having Ray die.  I felt Ray's recent death would up the factor that is splitting up Will and Jim, so Ray died.  This gave me a chance to have Will keep a secret from his brother, almost breaking them apart.  This revelation is what gives Chris the impetus to tell his brother everything once Sam is found.  I'm thinking that Will is going to partner with rehab clinics in both Kentucky and Virginia, maybe even opening one himself.  As to Jim, I have been trying to see where he will end up, but I haven't settled on anything yet, beyond that his marriage is pretty much over.  Jim's wife is out of there.  Jim, I'm still trying.  Next week, I will finish up with this overview and I will include a new revelation as well.