All Chapters of Struggles And Obsessions: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

"The terrorist attack on a local high school yesterday was a terrible event. History will reflect that fact. What it will also reflect is the amazing string of coincidences that prevented this heinous act from being anywhere near as devastating as was planned by the terrorist."How could the terrorist speaking on his cell phone in the Farsi language, apparently to his leader, guess that an American high school student walking toward the gym at that moment was fluent in Farsi? What are the odds that the student, Steve Hammer, would turn out to be trained in hand-to hand combat and have the ability to immediately kill the terrorist? Then try calculating the odds that the same student had learned the workings of IED's and suicide bombs from his father, a Navy SEAL Commander."This same student searched the dead man while sending a female student to pull the fire alarm, knowing that these evil men planned on destroying the building and everyone in it with explosives. Evacuation was absolu

ets intended for her. Billy Marsh saved my life in the river that day in November. Gwen Anderson seems to save me all the time. She cut the wires to the explosives without even asking if I was certain they were the right ones. That saved all of us. Then she worked to save me from bleeding to death, and make no mistake. If she had not acted so promptly and professionally, I would have died."I want everyone to know that I will always have the backs of these three friends. Billy and Jared are now my brothers, and Gwen is ... everything. Anytime, anyplace, I'll be there if they ever need me."When I was a little more than a child, my grandfather died. My mother sang a beautiful song to me to help me feel better. She told me that her mother used to sing it to her in sad times. We all wonder why this terrible thing happened, and why it happened to us. There are no good reasons. How do you explain, intolerance, envy, hatred, and fear? Just know that there is either a plan for us all, or eve

Kate was the first to stir the next morning. She woke in her own room, but felt someone next to her. Remembering the previous night, she opened her eyes to find Steve still asleep. Her right hand was resting on his chest. Then Kate noticed Steve's left hand was clutching Gwen's left breast through her pajamas. Kate leaned over and kissed Steve on the cheek. His eyes slowly opened."Good morning! I finally got to wake up with you in my bed! That was awesome. How about a little kiss for me, Big Guy?""How about some breakfast, if you girls can pry yourselves away from Steve," offered Paula from the doorway as Gwen began rubbing her eyes. "You'll probably have to release Gwen, Steve, or she won't be able to get up."Steve and Gwen both looked down to see her left breast firmly grasped by Steve's left hand. Steve quickly released the handful of female charm and tucked his hand behind his back while he blushed. Gwen let out a small chuckle and leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.After

"Steve, you have to relax. Gwen must have told you that she's going on the pill and that we approved. I still want you to be careful about pregnancy and disease. Lisa simply went on the pill without asking, but Gwen feels that would be disrespectful. We're not giving permission so much as we're accepting the inevitable. I don't think it would be possible to keep you two apart much longer."I don't think any normal young woman could be around you and not want to have you make love to her. It's up to the both of you to decide what this will mean. Will you be exclusive? What will you expect from each other? What will you owe each other? What are you committing to, if anything? I never would have believed this situation would arise a few short months ago, but I have to accept that you two have done some incredible things and have shown amazing maturity, well beyond your years. We trust you both to make good decisions. We know better than to try to stop what the Gods have created with you

"They're afraid that if they move me, they'll miss the exclusive features you've been granting me the last few months. Now that you have a hit song and your clothing line is being promoted all over TV and the internet, the station doesn't want to lose you. They've given me a raise and a promise to move up once you guys are in college."I'd like to do fifteen minutes with you two. It will be live, with a few seconds delay in case something unacceptable is blurted. It's going to be during the eight o'clock hour and the network may rebroadcast it during their morning show if it looks interesting enough."Saturday morning found Lisa, Kate, Gwen, Amber Stahl and Amber O'Leary setting up at Macy's, well before the normal opening time. Amber O'Leary had arranged to have a piano delivered to the area the kids were using. She felt confident that fans would be asking Gwen and Steve to sing since they had a hit song. The girls were shown their changing room, while Steve once again was given a gl