A/N: I do NOT own "Stand By Me" by Columbia Pictures and Rob Reiner, nor do I own the screenplay by Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans, or "The Body" by Stephen King. I also don't own the characters from the novel, or the setting, etc. If I did, I'd be rich and famous and you would know my name. However, you do not. :(
I DO happen to own Leslie Johnson, Marcia Cunningham, Rachel Ryan, Christina Lee, their parents, their siblings, and the kitty Dakota. Please read and review! Constructive criticism is welcome as well as encouraging criticism. If I have made a mistake with the characters, setting, etc, please do review and let me know! Finally, enjoy! :)
It was the Friday before Labor Day when I got back from the market with my mom. Marcia, Rachel, and Christina were waiting for me outside of my small cream colored house with the rotted robin's egg blue shutters. Mom took forever to get out of the car, not wanting the humidity to mess up her blonde bee-hive that she took until another millennium to do that morning. It was hot, real hot, and Christina was complaining about the humidity, too. I think it got up to about one-oh-one, and it was only nine o'clock.
As usual, the girls squealed when I stepped out. I guess you could say I was their leader: they followed me around, copied my every move. The only one who didn't do that was Marcia. You could say she was my favorite. Rachel and Christina were great, too, but it's annoying when you have your own little clones that follow you around all day.
Back then I was looked down upon. All the parents resented me because I wore my brothers jeans and wore too much eye make-up. We had a black cat that we let loose that ran around the neighborhood, and it's rumored that it gave bad luck to anyone who crossed it. That was untrue: Dakota was the sweetest kitty in the world. I didn't tie my hair back with ribbons, I just let my dark hair hang loose. The sun brightened a few streaks towards my ends during the summer, but in the winter it got real dark.
"I love your outfit, Leslie!" Rachel exclaimed once I'd ran over to them. She stood, smiling, running her blue eyes up and down me, no doubt making a mental note to wear something exactly like it the next time I would see her.
"Thanks. It's just a pair of my brothers old jeans and a White t-shirt. This is my dads old lumber jacking shirt." I said, pointing to the faded red and black plaid shirt.
Rachel Ryan was your typical girl. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and wore her hair in all the latest fashions. That day she was wearing a baby blue dress and black Mary-Jane's with Bobby socks and a matching blue ribbon in her hair. Mrs. Ryan worked as a waitress at the Blue Point Diner. Rachel invited her friends for free milkshakes and fries there, and occasionally free hot fudge sundaes. Mr. Ryan worked with my dad: lumber jacking.
Christina Lee was the bookworm out of all of us. She always let us copy off her homework if we were in a tight spot and didn't do it: that applied to me usually every week. That day Christina had just gotten back from Math camp down in New York. She was the only one who had been out of state out of all of us then. Christina was wearing a knee-length black skirt despite the heat and Mary-Jane's and Bobby socks like Rachel. She had on a White blouse with a red and blue striped sweater vest. Rachel's mom and dad were divorced, something uncommon that time. She lived with her mom and two little brothers, Ricky and Simon. Her mom worked as a cashier at the Castle Rock Drugstore. Last time we heard her dad was in Michigan, working as a garbage collector.
Then there was Marcia Cunningham. Marcia had short black hair and the only girl in Castle Rock with a fringe covering her green eyes. Marcia's parents were original hippies, influencing Marcia as well. She always wore bell bottom jeans and loose tops, thus joining me in being resented by most of the adult folk in Castle Rock. She liked Rachel and Christina, but we both liked each other better.
"What are we doing today?" I asked them, looking around waiting for someone to throw an idea in the open
"Mrs. Tupper said I could invite you guys to the diner. She said free sundaes and hamburgers this time." Rachel said, biting her fingernails.
"Its only 9 o'clock. I just ate breakfast." I said.
"Me, too." Marcia added.
"Yeah.." Christina said quietly.
"Fine, you guys are so-" Rachel stopped talking abruptly. We all followed her gaze next door. None other than Gordie Lachance was walking down his driveway, his older brother Dennis' Yankees cap on his head, looking down. Rachel blushed at the sight of him. Gordie and his friends were 12 or 13, the same age as Marcia, Christina, and I. Rachel was a whole three years older than us, but was held back in Kindergarten and twice in the first grade. She had a thing for Gordie's brother Denny, who died four months ago in April in an auto accident. She cried for a week.
"Hi, Gordie." I waved to him. He wasn't my best friend, but we talked when we were both outside and bored when our friends were busy.
He looked up and waved back. "Hi, Leslie." He continued walking down Summer Street, where we lived, then he turned onto the vacant lot at the end. We watched him until he walked out of sight.
"He doesn't even look like Denny." Rachel complained, staring at Gordie's white house with the dark blue shutters and the cracked paint and rotting sides. He got that a lot. Even his parents were disappointed in him for not even looking or acting like Denny. He was the Invisible Boy.
Once when Gordie and I were both about 11, Mrs. Lachance decided to get to know the neighbors better and tried to get Gordie some decent friends, so she invited me over for dinner. When I got there, I tried to have a conversation with Gordie, but I could tell he was really shy. I remember we were sitting there, I was next to Gordie who was on my left. Denny sat at the head at my right like the King, and Mr. and Mrs. Lachance were sitting across from Gordie and I.
"Pass the butter, please." Gordie said softly. We were having steak and corn on the cob, mashed potatoes and string green beans. The corn, spuds, and beans were all fresh from the Lachance's garden out back. I spotted the butter, across the table, right in front of Mr. Lachance.
"Denny, are you sure the Army is what you want?" Mr. Lachance asked. Denny would start to answer. "Pass the butter someone, okay?" Gordie asked again, raising his voice slightly. "Denny, would you like me to pick you up one of the Pendleton shirts that are on sale downtown?"
I looked in disbelief as Denny would answer and his parents would be hooked onto his every word. I looked to Gordie, but to my surprise, Gordie had gotten up. He was across the table, getting the butter himself.
That was the last time I set foot in his house, mainly because Mrs. Lachance didn't approve of the way I dressed, along with half of the population of Castle Rock, but also it was my decision, too. It sickened me how the Lachances ignored their own son like that. It was like Denny was the King or something. All I knew was after that I suddenly was thankful my own parents didn't treat me like that, and every time I see Gordie I have this feeling like an ice cub slipped into my stomach.
"It's not his fault." I said in Gordie's defense. For some reason I didn't like what Rachel said. She shrugged.
"I should get home." Rachel said suddenly, picking up her new Schwinn off the front lawn.
Christina nodded. "Me, too. I have to help Simon clean his room."
"Oh, okay." I said, watching Rachel smile and wave as she tore down Summer Street on her pale green and cream bike. Christina said good-bye and ran down the road, turning onto the vacant lot and proceeding to her house. Marcia grinned and said, "It's just you and me." I laughed and we went inside to my house. Dad was off at work while Mom was in the kitchen, pouring two cups of lemonade from a pitcher and handing them to us.
"Hello, Marcia!" my Mom said as we walked into the kitchen.
"Hi, Mrs. Johnson!" Marcia said brightly , taking the lemonade with a cheerful thanks.
"Thanks, Mom!" I said, tugging Marcia's shirt and dragging her out the door. "Be home by noon!" My mom called out the screen door, watching us run down the street and to the vacant lot. We stopped once we were out of sight of my mother.
Laughing, Marcia stopped and gasped.
"What, what is it?" I asked, still giggling.
"I have the perfect idea ever!" Marcia said, grabbing my wrist and staring into my blue and grey eyes.
"Okay, okay, tell me."
"Lets go spy on Gordie and his friends." She said.
"Aww, I don't know.." I said. "That would be a mean trick."
"Come on, let's go. Please!" She said. Marcia didn't even wait for my response. She pulled me all the way through the vacant lot to Carbine street, down in the alley between the Blue Point and the drugstore, cutting behind the Castle Rock Drugstore, the hardware store, and the antique store called Emporium Galorium. She made me jump a fence that came Curran Street, around a corner where Curran meets Carbine, and running still, turning onto a vacant lot where a tree house loomed up on a hill that overlooked the town.