Author’s notes

I really struggled with this story. It’s fairly different from all my other stories so far - it’s in first-person, a diary format, and the plot is less clear. When I heard the initial concept for a story where Riley gets payback for being a jerk in “Home Run Koda”, my first thought was to go the typical “retribution” route. E.g. something bad happens to Riley, or the other Rangers punish him. But then I thought about how thoughtless and selfish behaviour gets punished in real life, which is that you hurt the people you care about. So from there this evolved into more of a story exploring Riley and Chase’s friendship.

I rewatched “Home Run Koda” and noticed that Chase hardly says a word against Riley even when the other Rangers are disgusted at his behaviour. I thought about it and figured it made sense. After all, Chase is the laid-back one and the one who usually gets in trouble, so by nature he doesn’t seem to be the disciplinarian of the Rangers. And he would have another reason not to jump down Riley’s throat - because of their close friendship. Although he’d be perfectly justified if he were to join in with condemning Riley, as Shelby did, he instead chooses patience, restraint and giving Riley space. And it pays off.

I don’t know if all these messages were apparent in the story, haha. Which is why I’m writing these author’s notes. Like I said, this was a fairly challenging story for me to write, but I hope that you enjoyed it!

(Also, Chase’s first-person voice was an absolute joy to write.)