I hurried on down the path, with the voice yelling coldly after me. I ignored the screaming and quickened my pace towards the tree house. The tree house was the one place I could could go to escape my hell of a father and have a good time with my four best friends: Vern Tessio, Gordie Lachance, Teddy Duchamp, and more importantly, Chris Chambers. I have been in love with him since before I could even remember.
Chris had blonde hair and beautiful green eyes. His body was covered in muscles and was absolutely perfect. His father constantly beat him and his mother never did shit about it. And his brother, Eyeball, always picked on him with his gang, The Cobras. Chris was always willing to put aside his out troubles to help anyone else with theirs. He always offered a shoulder whenever you needed it the most.
Teddy was the maniac. He had dirty blonde hair that brushed a bit passes his ears with big coke bottle glasses on his face. He was crazy because his own father was crazy. Teddy's dad went to combat in WWII and stormed the Normandy beach, but when he came back home, he was odd. And one day, he took Teddy's head and held it to a stove, burning his left ear nearly off. I remember the days we would all go visit him in the hospital, but half the time he was sound asleep or completely worn out from all the surgeries. Once his ear was healed, it looked like wax and we never spoke of it again. Teddy's dad ended up getting sent to a mental hospital in Togus. Teddy always looked up to his father and someday wanted to join the Army himself.
Then there was Gordie. He was scrawny with a brown mop of hair on his head with big doe eyes. His parents were the worst though. They ignored him. You see, Gordie's older brother, Denny, died a few years back. Denny was everything Gordie's parents wanted, but now he was gone. They never cared at all about Gordie and his stories. He had a marvolous gift for writing. He would always be telling us stories and let his mind roam free. It was incredible to see Gordie at his best moments.
And next was Vern. Vern was always saying the most random things. But, the most funny thing about him was that when he was younger, he buried a full jar of pennies under his front porch and drew a treasure map to find them later. But his mother ended up throwing the map away and Vern was always digging holes under that porch. He finally decided to call it quits after two years, just to find out his older brother, Billy, was hiding the entire jar in his room.
Finally, there was me, Shiloh Granger. I had light brown eyes with sandy hair past my shoulders. The boys and I had been friends since we were all little. My mom died when I was only eleven and ever since then, my dad had beaten me. My mother was beautiful with long blonde hair and green eyes. She was sweet and loving while my dad was harsh and cruel. He always blamed me for my mother's death even though I didn't find out my mom was dead until the day after she passed away. He was horrible and I hated him. He recently pushed me down the stairs ending with me having a giant bruise across my ribs and a few on my arms.
I never really talked to the boys about my mom or dad because nobody wanted to get someone else upset. We usually pretended not to see my bruises but every now and then, I would notice one of them studying a fresh mark or bruise, not saying a word but knowing exactly how it got there.
My friendship with the bos was anything but normal. They treated me no differently just because i was a girl. We all wrestled, teased each other, and cussed each other out. Everyone, especially girls, looked at me with digust for hangingout with such boys. But I couldn't just stop. They were the best friends anyone for ever ask for! We never had a moment where we weren't laughing or making jokes. I never really liked all the girly-girl stuff like make-up, hairspray, or heels, maybe that's why I didn't get along with most girls. But that was just fine because I had my boys and they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
I heard laughs erupting down from the tree house and I bust in.
"WAAAZZUP?" I hollered, sitting down in my usual spot in between Chris and Teddy. They were all in a serious card game and had mumbled responses. I quickly joined in and we were soon all yelling at each other for "cheating".
Chris quickly stood to his feet and announced, "Guys, I have to go. Wendy told me she had to tell me something important tonight!" He raised his eyebrows quickly and grinned. Wendy was Chris' "girlfriend". She was the exact image that came to mind when you heard the words "pink", "tan", and "make-up" all in the same sentence. Her hair was bleached blonde and she never went anywhere without her make-up on. But the worst thing was her attitude. Gordie, Vern, Teddy, and I always tried to persuade Chris into breaking up with her but he always insisted on staying with that stupid whore. She had already had a pregnancy scare and she was only our age: sixteen. She was always treating Chris like dirt and he was too blind to see Wendy for what she truely was. It especially pissed me off because I was always telling him how better off he was without her but he always just rolled his eyes and complained, "You just don't know her like I do."
"She's probabley gonna tell you she's knocked up from some other dude!" Teddy laughed: Eeee-eee-eeeee! Chris narrowed his eyes and answered, "Up yours Duchamp," and exited the tree house. I groaned and shook my head.
"Ooh, somebody's jealous of Wendy..." Gordie teased, elbowing me. The boys all knew about my lifetime love for Chris and was always giving me shit about it.
"Jealous that Wendy's gettin' some and you ain't!" Vern added, laughing.
"Shut the hell up!" I fought back, crossing my arms. They all continued laughing and shook their heads. They were always saying how obvious it was how much I loved Chris but none of them ever told Chris. I proved (or some-what proved) them how much I didn't like Chris last summer when Teddy and I dated. We only kissed once or twice and it ended up being too awkward and broke up a week later.
"Shut up and deal four eyes!" I hollered at Teddy who continued to laugh.
"What a wet end you are Shy.." Teddy laughed. I shook my head. Teddy never made sense. Ever.

I set my book down and looked towards my window where it sounded like something was hitting it. I placed my book on my nightstand, moving to my feet and pushed my reading glasses further onto my face. I looked out the window and my eyes landed towards the ground, where a figure stood. I squinted, not knowing exactly who it was.
"Shiloh? Are you awake?" The voice called out. I knew that voice.
"No Chris, I'm sleep walking." He smirked and answered, "Can you come out and go for a walk? I need to talk to somebody." I glanced back into my room and read the time aloud.
"Eleven forty seven," I sighed, then turned back towards Chris. "Okay, I'll be out in a minute."
"Thanks Shy,"
"Yeah, yeah..." I smiled. I quickly changed into a clean shirt and bra and slipped on some tan shorts. I briefly put my hair into a pony tail and put my glasses back by my book. I quietly inched down the stairs, one by one, trying not to make any sort of noise that would disturb my dad. I slipped out the door and saw Chris sitting on the front steps. Damn, he was so sexy. He twisted his neck towards me, smiled, and stood.
"So what do you want?" I joked, moving closer to him. He half-smiled before looking back out, straight ahead, his face growing still.
"C'mon, let's walk." He offered and we left my steps, just casually walking the streets late at night. We were silent, listening to all the bugs hissing all around us.
"Wendy broke up with me," Chris blurt out as we climbed into the tree house, closing the door behind him. I stared at him, not knowing what to say. He was looking everywhere but at my face. "She said she found someone else," Chris half-laughed and studied his shoes. "I really liked her," He added, his voice almost at a whisper.
"Chris," I started, placing a hand on his shoulder. "She's just a fuckin' whore. You deserve WAY better." Chris nodded and looked up to me, smiling.
"Is this what you wanted to talk about?" Chris nodded. "Well, she's a dumb bitch that has no clue that she just left behind.." Chris laughed and pulled me into a hug. I sqeezed him tighter. I smiled into his neck. We pulled back in unison but then froze and looked directly at each other. His eyes briefly glanced down to my lips and then back to my eyes. He slowly began moving closer to me and closed his eyes. This was it. Chris and I were finally going to kiss! I leant forward to press my lips against his and we finally touched. His mouth was warm against mine, with gentle lips. He pulled back and blushed.
"Sorry," He smiled and looked down. "I've always wanted to do that for the longest time..." No way. Was he saying he liked me? I felt my face become warm and flustered. I reached out to hold his hand and squeezed.
"Chris," I whispered. His face raised to mine. "You don't know how long I've wanted you to do that..." A smile spread across his face and he replied, "Well, we could sit here talking or we could-" I pushed him back against the wall and mashed my lips to his. I've wanted this moment forever and I was not going to ruin it by having a conversation.
After a good half an hour or so of making out, his hand began traveling up, under my tee-shirt. I smiled. I wanted him so bad and now I finally was. We quickly removed both of our shirts and Chris halted.
"Wait, Shy...do you really wanna, 'ya know..." He questioned, serious.
"Yeah, of course."
"Are you sure?"
"Chris, shut up." I commanded and pushed him onto the floor and kissed him. I didn't care I was about to have sex with my best friend. He was everything I wanted and I craved him. I yanked his jeans down and traced my fingers towards his crotch. A tiny whimper came out of his throat as I pulled down his underwear, revealing his entire body. By now, my pants were off but I still remained in my underwear and bra. It was odd, seeing Chris completely nude, even though it was pretty dark, I could still manage to see most of his body.
"Wait," He called out and sat up. "This isn't fair. Take off your underwear and bra!" I smirked but did as he wanted.
"Happy now?" I asked.
"Fair is only fair." He answered, pulling me towards his body. I had always wondered what it would feel like to have my bare body against Chris' and now that I was finally experiencing it, it was perfect. I slowly moved my hands down to his "friend" and took ahold of it. I began rubbing it and he let out a soft moan. It made me happy to know I was making Chris feel good.
After give him a quick handjob, he kissed me cheek and moved on top of me. He slowly began moving and he started to enter me. It hurt really bad but I ignored the pain and focused on the pleasure. Chris was completely in me when he let out a heavy groan and a giant wave of pleasure flew throughout me. I let out shrieks and yelps before finally calming, and Chris rolled off me. He propped himself up on his right elbow and looked over at me, smiling.
"Shiloh, I love you." He whispered. I giggled and said "I love you too" in response by also adding, "So, you're over Wendy now?"
"Wendy who?" I shook my head and he wrapped an arm around me, squeezing me tight.
Chris was finally mine. He finally got me to admit my love for him and he felt the exact same. Everything was going to be just alright for us. I had Chris and he had me. What more could one girl ask for?