Dave Casler
PO Box 98
Ridgway, Colorado 81432
Young Adult Novels by Dave Casler...
I've been told by publisher after publisher that there's no market for Young Adult novels. I think they're wrong! So I'm putting my novels on-line for you. Forget the publisher! Read to your heart's content--it's free! And, I'd like to hear from you, too! Contact Page.
You're reading About Dan. Be sure to check out About Phillip here.
Dan is a normal kid who loves his soccer. Except everything goes wrong. Everything.
About Series Home
About the About Series
Index to All Chapters
Here are all the chapters, disguised as asterisks. Hover your mouse over an asterisk to see the title of the chapter. Click on the asterisk to go straight to that chapter.
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(About Dan Home) (Last) (Next)
Dr. Peter Listens
"Lisa and I have been friends like forever. I don't know what changed."
"Hormones?"
Dan snorted. "Oh, no, nothing like that."
"Pray continue."
"She looked at me differently about when we turned 16. She wanted everything to be just perfect, like she was reading from a manual about how to fall in love." He looked past Peter.
"So you had to follow the script."
"A couple months ago she told me that she told one of her friends to drop her boyfriend because he'd once used marijuana. Not that he was still doing it. I mean, jeesh, it's like he was contaminated and untouchable. Now I see the pattern; I’m not allowed to fail at anything. Do you remember that pre-season game we lost to Longmont? She was upset. Like she only wants to go around with winners."
"Well, there's nothing wrong with winners, I suppose. That describes both of us, right?"
Dan smiled wryly. "Yeah, of course it does. So when Lisa found out I was in the hospital, she was all lovey dovey, but when she saw me in the wheelchair, I was damaged goods. Then I didn't see her at all, except that one time at the second Anderson game, you know the one where I screamed at Ernesto? But after that, she seemed to try to be nice to me. I think she was trying to tell herself I'd heal and I'd be on the soccer field again."
"And then you couldn't dance," said Peter. "You blew away her script for the perfect evening."
"Right."
"Prince Charming was tarnished."
"Right."
"So since Prince Charming number one was tarnished, she threw him away and got Prince Charming number two as a spare."
"You got it."
"I'd say you got the better end of the deal."
"Huh?"
"Do you want someone who loves you to dump you when you need them most?" asked Peter.
"No."
"Good. You're rid of her."
"I wish it was that simple."
"It is. You just have to get over it."
"That's easy for you to say. You have Chelsea."
"Chelsea? I told you that was public service."
"Right. Sure. How many times have you seen her since the Fall Festival?"
"Exactly zero," said Peter, triumphantly.
"Huh? You two look like naturals."
"Dan, my poor boy, I'm a natural with every woman on the planet. Her boyfriend really was sick. He's back. She called me. She said thank you very much and goodbye."
"So that's that."
"That's that."
"But it took you a while to get over Tania."