YES, I AM NOT DEAD! Anyway, I was watching the movie "Stand By Me" (greatest movie EVER) and I decided to write a story about it, so, eventually, this is what happened. Happy reading, and please review !
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except Joey.
CHAPTER 1: JUST A GIRL
Who was I the summer my life changed forever? I was 13 year old Joey Randall. I remember that first day when I heard about Ray Brower: I was looking at my friend Vern Tessio with my mouth almost on the floor. Around me were my other best friends, Gordie LaChance, Chris Chambers, and Teddy Duchamp, and their faces had similar expressions on them. I shook my head and said, "Vern, could you repeat that? My baseball cap must have blocked my hearing." I took my Red Sox hat off (I had moved to Castle Rock, Oregon, when I was eight from Boston) and shook my hair out, having stray wisps from my ponytail fall in dark brown curls around my face.
Vern had a confused look on his face. "If those hats block out hearing, how come the ballplayers can hear all the instructions the coaches are giving?"
Chris shook his head, exasperated. "Vern, just ask the freaking question again."
Vern held up his hands and said, "Okay, okay." He then cleared his throat and repeated: "You guys wanna go see a dead body?"
Nope. We had heard him loud and clear. Even after Vern explained how he had learned about the whereabouts of the missing teen, Ray Brower, by eavesdropping under his family's porch, we still couldn't believe it.
After a long, painful silence, Teddy broke the silence: "I know the Back Harlow Road! My dad and I used to fish for cossies out there! The train tracks are right there!"
I nodded. "If Brower went blackberry picking… he probably crossed the tracks to get to the forests quicker."
Teddy started to get excited. "Yeah… yeah, and then a train must have come along and," he punched his hand, "el smacko."
We all were silent for a minute, and then Chris, the leader, said, "Hey, guys, I bet if we found Ray Brower, we could get our name in the papers."
I jumped up, nearly hitting my head on the roof of the tree house we were in. "Yeah! We could even be on TV!"
"Sure!" Chris yelled happily.
"We'll be heroes!" Teddy yelled, striking a (what was supposed to look like) heroic pose.
"Yeah!" Chris yelled again.
Vern sighed. "I don't know. What are we going to tell our folks?"
Gordie spoke up for the first time in five minutes. "How about this: we tell all of our folks we're tenting out in your back field, you tell your folks you're sleeping over at Teddy's, and then we'll all say we're going to the drag races the next day. We're rock solid until tomorrow night."
Chris said, impressed, "Man, that's a plan and a half."
Vern, always the whiner, said, "But then when we find him, our folks will know that we didn't go to the drag races and we'll get hided!"
"Nobody will care!" Teddy exclaimed. "Because everyone'll be so jazzed about what we found, that they won't hide us!"
"Yeah!" I said. I was starting to really like this plan.
"Well, my dad'll probably hide me anyway, but hell, it's worth a hiding!" Chris exclaimed. "Let's do it. What do you say?"
"I'm in," Teddy said.
"Gordie?"
"Sure."
"Vern?"
"I don't know."
"Vern…" Chris said in a sing-song voice.
"Come on, Verno," I encouraged him.
When Vern still wouldn't agree, Chris, Teddy and I all ran over and gave him noogies until he finally said, "Okay, okay, I'll do it."
We all cheered, and then Chris turned to me. "How about you, Jo?" he asked, looking at me with hopeful eyes.
Gordie smiled. "Yeah, what would a trip like this be without our best girl?"
Teddy shrugged. "Who else is going to keep us wild and crazy juvenile delinquents in line?"
Vern nodded. "You could sing us another one of those songs you always randomly burst into."
I laughed. These guys knew me all too well. "Of course I'll come, you guys."
We all celebrated the start of our quest to find Ray Brower. The five of us had been best friends since before any of us could remember, even though we were all totally different. I guess that's what made us all work so well together.
Gordie was the quietest in our group. He was smart, soft-spoken, and was only really lively and funny when he was with us. His family life was really kind of tragic: in April of that year, his older brother, Denny, who was the only person other than us that he could lean on for support had been killed in a Jeep accident, leaving Gordie to suffer the wrath of his unsupportive father, and his mother that was totally dominated by his father. Gordie had brown hair that nearly fell into his brown doe eyes, and a sweet, young face.
Chris, as I already mentioned, was the leader of our gang. He was very protective of all of us, and he was always the last to back down in a fight. The way he stood there, facing off against the antagonist with his beautiful blue eyes (that sometimes turned grey) nearly sparking with anger, and his rough yet smooth hands clenched in fists… oh, alright, fine, I admit it: I love Chris Chambers; I have since we were eight years old. I don't know, there was just something about him… a glow that you saw when you looked at him. He also came from a bad family, and every single person in town just knew he'd turn out bad… including Chris. As I mentioned during my random teenager in love moment earlier, he had blue/ grey eyes and buzz cut blond hair. He was one of those people who could be the toughest person ever, and then turn around and be as sweet as anything; his eyes reflected those personalities.
Teddy… oy vey. Teddy was certifiably insane, as far as I could tell. He was pretty wild and crazy, and always bullied poor Verno. He and I had actually "dated" when we were younger, but it was nothing serious: Monday, he loved me, Tuesday he loved a cheerleader, Wednesday he was back, that sort of thing. Still, even though we had "broken up" long ago, I felt like I was the only one who understood him, and believe me; he was not easy to figure out. His family was probably even more screwed up than anybody's: when he was three years old, his father held Teddy's ear to a stove and nearly burnt it off. He was then sent away to a mental institution, and Teddy hadn't heard from him since. Teddy had sandy, shaggy hair with hazel eyes that were hidden behind glasses that were a zillion inches thick. He also had the weirdest laugh I have ever heard in my life. There really aren't any words I have to describe it: it was just Teddy's laugh.
Vern was probably the most well-adjusted out of all of us. He had a relatively normal family compared to us… except for his older brother, Billy. Billy was in with the meanest gang in town, the Cobras. Chris's brother, Eyeball, was in the gang too, and the gang was led by the meanest, most idiotic person in town: Ace Merrill. Vern was the all-around good kid that everyone knew, even if he was a bit of a stick in the mud. I constantly had to protect him from Teddy's dreaded "two-for-flinching" punch that Vern was always receiving. Verno (as everyone called him) was pretty darn tubby, had brown hair and blue eyes.
And me? I was just Johanna "Joey" Randall. Good old Joey, just one of the guys. Joey, whose mom split when she was four years old and hadn't had a girl in the house since. Joey, whose dad had a one night stand with a prostitute which resulted in a new kid brother. Joey, who was the best hitter in town, and the second fastest runner, right behind Chris Chambers. The boys treated me like just another guy whenever we were together, but sometimes, they'd treat me differently if I even hinted that I was a girl. For example, whenever they were talking about how big Annette Funicello's tits had gotten, they always threw in an extra compliment for me, for fear that I would be offended. In fact, I didn't really care if they thought I was a girl or not. When I left on that trip, I was convinced that I would never even want to be anything more than just one of the guys. Well, all that was about to change.
