Stand By Me
It was the summer of 59'. The summer that we all would never forget. It was a few days before school would finally start. I dreaded it. I had just left the corner store and headed to the tree house to meet up with the guys. I got there and I climbed up the stares and knocked on the door with our secret knock.
"That's not the secret knock." I heard one of the guys say.
"Bullshit it aint. Open the fucking door." I yelled getting pissed.
"And if we don't"
"I'll kick your ass and you know I will and it'll hurt too!" I yelled.
"Fine." they all said and the door opened. I climbed in and closed the door. The guys were playing poker. I took a seat behind Teddy smelling the stench of grease he used in his dark brown hair to make it wave to the right. I looked over at Chris who had a pack rolled up his left shoulder in his white tee-shirt. Chris had buzz cut hair which made him look a little tougher then he was. He came from a bad family and we all knew, including him, that he would turn out bad. Gordie sat in the Middle. He had short brown hair that was combed to the side. His parents basically ignored him since his brother Denis died, which pissed me off because he was a good kid. His parents were pieces of shit anyways. Never liked them. Teddy had a dad who I thought was a little crazy. I never told him that though. But one day his dad took his ear to their stove and almost burned it off. It scared the shit out of me when he showed up the next day with his ear bandaged. He had to now wear an ear piece. I have always had a thing for Teddy. He never knew of course but the other guys did and they never let it down. I would have to beat the shit out of them to keep their mouths shut. But they were my best friends and I wouldn't want it any other way.
"So Jessie. What's new?" Teddy asked not looking up from his cards.
"Eh nothing. My sister is starting to annoy me though. She becomes a bit meaner every second she hangs with Ace." I said sighing. My sister was 17 and dropped out of school. She said it was just too hard for and couldn't take it anymore. After that she had began to hang with the Cobras'. She had a thing for the leader Ace Merrill. He was the biggest asshole you would ever meet. The only reason he was remotely nice to me was cause I was related to Sam. He still was an asshole to me though. Ace had short yellow-blonde hair and icy blue eyes. He wasn't that bad looking but he just had the worst personality. Sam did always have a thing for bad boys. And you couldn't get any worse then Ace. Her and I were really close. Some people say we look like twins. I was 5 years younger then her and had darker features though. But you could tell we were related.
"Well what do you expect. She's hanging with Ace Merrill. The worlds biggest asshole." Chris said not looking away from his cards." I knock." he said knocking on the little table we had in the tree house that we built two summers ago." I got 25."He said.
"Fuck. I got 20" Teddy said throwing down his cards. Chris laughed.
"Hey how do you know a Frenchman's been to your house." Chris said chuckling. 'Shit here we go' I thought to myself rolling my eyes and taking a seat next to Teddy.
"Hey, I'm French okay?" Teddy said.
"Your garbage cans are empty and your dogs knocked up." He said. Him and Gordie started to laugh.
"Didn't I just say I was French." Teddy said getting a little pissed.
"I knock" Chris said again. He drew a card and so did Teddy and Gordie.
"twenty-nine." Chris said showing his cards.
"Twenty-two." Teddy said. Gordie slammed his cards down on the table.
"Piss off a rope." He said. We all laughed.
"Gordie's out. Ole' Gordie just bit the bag and stepped out the door. Eee-eee-eee." Teddy said. He had a rusty laugh. Like someone was scratching a nail across the board. I didn't mind I thought it was funny and it made me laugh harder.
"Teddy you got the strangest laugh." I said between breathes. He rolled his eyes with a small smirk. Chris delt a new hand. Teddy looked at his cards for a minute.
"I knock." He said. Chris got a pissed look on his face.
"You four-eyed piece of shit."Chris said.
"The pile of shit has a thousand eyes." Teddy said in a deep sounding voice. Chris, Gordie and I look at each other and started laughing." What? What's so funny. I got thirty what do you have?"
"Twelve." Chris said still laughing.
"Ya keep laughing. You're down your ride pal. Come lets go again." Teddy said. A few seconds later we heard someone knock on the door. It wasn't the secret knock either.
"That's not the secret knock." Gordie said reading a magazine.
"I forget the knock." the voice said behind the door.
"Vern." We all said together and lifted the door up. Vern came in out of breath and sat on a small bench.
"Wow, man wait till ya hear this. Hold on a second though. I got to catch my breath. I ran all the way from my house." We all smirked and joined together.
"I ran all the way home..." We sang together.
"Come on you guys...listen to me...this is boss. Come on." He said a little annoyed. We stopped.
"Okay go ahead Vern. What is it?" Chris said acting like he was concerned.
"Okay. Okay. You won't believe this. Sincerely I..." And just before he could say more we began again." Screw you guys." He said crossing his arms.
"No, no, no. What is it?" Chris said rolling his eyes.
"Can you guys camp out tonight? I mean if you tell your folks we're gonna tent out in my back field?" Vern asked.
"Sure." I said.
"Yea same. I guess I could. But my dads on a bit of a mean streak. With drinking and all." Chris said. dealing cards for him and Teddy.
"You got to man. Sincerely. You won't believe this. Can you Gordie?" Vern asked turning to Gordie.
"Yea probably." He said still looking at the magazine.
"What are you pissing and moaning about Vern-O?" Teddy said.
"I knock." Chris said.
"What!? You liar. You aint got a pat. You didn't deal yourself a pat." Teddy yelled. I rolled my eyes.
"Make your draw shitheap." Chris said laughing. Vern was looking down.
"You guys want to see a dead body?" Vern said looking up at us slightly. We all got quite. Gordie put down his magazine and turned off the radio. We all looked at Vern.
"Well I was digging for my pennies and..." Vern said. He started telling us his story. Vern had a jar of pennies he had collected and buried. He made a treasure but his mom cleaned out his room and threw away his map. He had been looking for those damn pennies for nine months. Not sure weather to laugh or cry. He said that Charlie and Billy were talking about how they hot wired a car and found Ray Brower. We all followed up on Ray Brower since he was a kid our age.
"I know the Back Harlow Road. It comes dead end by the rail road tracks. My dad and I use to go fishing there." Teddy said.
"Man if they knew you were there they would have killed you." Chris said. We all nod in agreement.
"How could they gotten all the way there. Its bout twenty to thirty miles." Gordie said.
"He must of started walking on the train tracks and fallowed them the whole way." Chris said.
"Ya and after dark the train must have came along and...el smack-o."Teddy said. I sighed and rolled my eyes. I started to tune them out until I started to hear Teddy go:
"Too cool! Too cool!" 'Vern must of given in.' I thought to myself. After we discussed what we were gonna do we all headed home. It was about 7 o'clock and it was almost dark out. Like every other day Teddy would walk me home. He would never let me walk by myself. He said it was cause He went that way too but I knew he was lying. That night though I decided I would hold Teddy's hand.
"What are you doing?" He asked in a bit of a nervous tone. I hadn't noticed at the time.
"Holding your hand. What's it look like?" I said. I mean come on it was obvious.
" I know that much...but...I mean..why are you holding my hand?" He asked.
"Cause I want to. Is that a problem?" I asked looking at him. He shook his head no and I smiled.
"It's just that...well...couples usually hold hands...and well...we're just friends." He said that last part like he was almost sad.
"Is that bad?" I asked curious? Again he shook his head no.
"No but...well..."He sighed."Fuck it. Jessie...would you be my girlfriend." He asked looking down. I was shocked. I had a huge smile on my face. I let go of Teddy's hand and gave him a huge.
"Hells ya I'll go out with you!" I said while hugging him. I felt him smile and he began to huge him back. We separated and began to hold hands again and he took me home.
The next day Chris came over to pick me up. We were suppose to go the day before, but since we had spent all our time planning we went the next day. He had told me that he got us a ride from a friend who owned a truck so we wouldn't have to walk.
"Sweet." I said and we headed to the truck.
"So. How are things with you and Teddy?" Chris said as we sat down in the back end of the truck. I looked at him and raised a brow. He had a smirk on his face.
"What do you mean?" I asked
"I know you guys go out." He said with a chuckle.
"Let me guess. He told you." I said with a smirk. He nods. I laughed." He always did have a big mouth." We both laughed. After about 5 minutes we found Gordie walking. Chris to the guy to pull over and we got out."Hey Gordie!" I said with a smile. He smiled and waved back.
"Oh! Guys I got something to show you." Chris said excitedly.
"What?" Me and Gordie said at the same time. We fallowed Chris in to the back of a building where he pulled out a 45. Gordie and I looked in aw. Gordie took it and started to hold it like he was gonna shoot it." Is it loaded?" Gordie asked
"Course not. What do you think I am. Stupid." Just after Chris said that Gordie shot the gun." JESUS!" we all yelled and ran."Gordie did it!Gordie LaChance!" Chris yelled while laughing a bit.
"ASSHOLE!" I yelled when we finally stopped.
"Ya. You knew it was loaded. Now she's gonna know it was me."
"No she wont. She thought they were cherry bombs" Chris said.
"You still knew it was loaded."Gordie said. Chris turns Gordie around so he is facing him.
"I didn't know it was loaded." He said in a serious tone.
"You swear?" Gordie said.
"Ya I swear."
"On your mothers name?"
"Ya. On my mothers name."
"Even if she goes to hell cause you lied?"
"Ya I swear"
"Pinky swear?"
"Ya pinky swear." Chris then did a 'cross my heart' thing with his pinky then kissed it.
"Finally. Now ladies can we go?" I said with a smirk. They rolled their eye and we left. While walking Ace, Eyeball, and Sam came out." hit" I said out loud. While walking past Ace took Gordie's hat. The one his brother gave him. That made me mad. Gordie was then jumping and screaming for it.
"You know your a real ass." Chris said. I quickly looked at him like' you shouldn't have said that'.
"Ouch. You hear that eyeball." Ace said. Sam sighed and shook her head. She then looked at me with 'here we go' look on her face.
"Now Chris. I know you didn't mean to insult my friend." Eyeball said. I rolled my eyes.
"I know he didn't. That's why I'm giving him a chance to take it back." Chris said nothing. Ace moved forward but was stopped by Sam. He had a pissed look on his face." Move Sam." He growled. She smirked.
"Now Ace. Why pick on some kids, when you and I could be having some really fun right now." She said with a wink and smirk. Ace looked at her and smiled.
"You punks got lucky this time." He said and grabbed Sam's hand and they walked away. Before turning the corner Sam turned to us and winked and smiled. I smiled. She always saved our asses. I knew i would own her big time.
"Thank god your sister was here." Chris said sighing.
"Yep." I said." Now! Come on ladies lets move it!" I yelled
"Stop Calling Us That!" They yelled. I laughed. We had walked for about 20 minutes when we finally reached Teddy and Vern.
"Teddy Bear!" I yelled and ran over and gave him a big huge. He laughed and we started walking.
With Sam
Thank god I stopped before he beat he shit out of Chris. I actually liked my little sisters friends. They were okay. I wondered though. When was Teddy and her going to go out. I mean it was sooo obvious they liked each other. Eh. Oh well. I was brought out of my thoughts.
"So. What kind of fun did you have in mind?" Ace said with a smirk and put his arm around my shoulder. I sighed and smirked. I turned to him and put my hand on his chest so he would stop. He smirked. I ran my index finger along his ripped body.
"I thought..." I began" we could...'" I paused and got really close to his lips. I could feel his breath." PLAY MAILBOX BASEBALL!" I yelled and ran away laughing. I could hear Ace swearing and running after me. Eyeball right behind him laughing his ass off. I made it to the junk yard when Ace finally caught up. He was totally out of breath." Where's Eyeball?" I asked. Ace pointed behind him to an out of breath Eyeball walking slowing. I began laughing my ass off." Come on old lady!" I yelled at him. He flipped me off and I pretended to be hurt." Ouch Eyeball. That one really hurt me." I said and rolled my eyes. I took a seat on the hood of a car. Ace sat on the car next to mine and began to clean a part to his car. We waited for the other guys to come. It was silent for a few minutes.
"That was a dirty trick you did. Way to act like real bitch." Ace said glaring at me with a cigarette in his mouth. I stuck out my tongue. I knew he was messing around. I then got up and slowly walked towards him. I put my hands on the hood of the car and lead forward. I took the cigarette out of his mouth and put it in mine. I then smirked. He smirked back.
"Now Acey. I know you didn't mean that. You would never try to hurt my feelings would you?" I said slowly and in a low tone. I then did a fake pout. He smirk and shook his head no." Good." I said with a smile. I took the cigarette out of my mouth and held it as I lead closer to Ace and placed a kiss on his lips. It lasted for about a minute. I pulled away and put the cigarette back in his mouth and walked back to the car I was sitting on." Happy now?" I asked.
"Yep." He said. I laughed.
"Oh Ace. What am I going to do with you?" I said shaking my head with a smile.
"You could fuck me?" He said with a sly smile. I laughed my ass of. He rolled his eyes. After a few minutes the other homos finally came.
"Guess ladies. Too you long enough. What were you doing? Fucking each other again?" I said with a smirk. They all flipped me off." I feel the love." I said laughing. After a few minutes we all settled and the other guys began to get the "Cobras'" on their arms. I had my done a long ass time ago. The radio came on and the were talking bout that one Brower kid.
"They just should give up. They're never gonna find 'me." Eyeball.
"Not where they're looking." Charlie said with a smile. I raised a brow. 'He knew something' I thought to myself. Billy shot him a look which meant he knew something as well. I tuned them out. In the distance of my thoughts I heard them beat each other a thousand dollars. Then Ace interrupted.
"Enough. Besides if you bother had two thousand dollars I'd kill ya both." He said while still cleaning a part of his car with a fresh cigarette in his mouth. I nodded in agreement.
Back to Jessie
We had settled out and were just getting to the tracks. It looked really far.'Duh!' I thought to myself.
"How far you think it is?" Vern asked.
"I don't looks like about 20 miles. Sound right to you Gordie?" Chris said.
"Ya. Ya maybe even 30." He said. Vern groaned.
"Maybe we should hitch a ride on a traind."Vern said.
"That's lame." Teddy said and we started walking. I was walking in front of Chris and Gordie and walking next to Vern and Teddy. We got to a part of the tracks where it had yellow-ish grass and open fields.
"Hey guy I'm starting to get hungry." I said. I felt my stomach growl.
"Ya me too." Teddy said.
"I don't have any food." Chris said. Gordie shook his head and shrug his shoulders. We turned to Vern.
"What? I don't have any food." He said. Teddy growled.
"You didn't bring any food!" He yelled at Vern.
"I brought the comb!" Vern yelled back in defense.
"It was your idea to do this and you didn't bring food! Now what are we gonna do. Eat our feet?" Teddy said.
"Look lets just see how much money we have." Gordie said digging into his pocket and sitting down on the tracks. We all did the same. Gordie had 56 cents, Chris had 50, Teddy had 45, Vern...sadly had 7...and I had 80 cents. All together we had enough to get a few things. We decided to go to the little store by the junk yard. We were heading there for a break anyways. Just then we heard a train coming. We all got off...except for Teddy.
"Come on Teddy." Chris yelled. Teddy shook his head. I began to panic. I was gonna run up there but Chris stopped me. I looked at him in shock, then stepped back. I felt tears form in my eyes.' Come on Teddy get off!' I yelled in my head.
"Come on man! Get off the tracks." Chris yelled again. Again he shook his head.
"No. I'm gonna dodge it." He said calmly. 'Shit no!' I thought.
"Teddy!!! Get off please!!' I yelled back. Nothing. I began to really panic cause the train was closer now. Just then Chris ran to the tracks and grabbed Teddy around the arms and began dragging him away. Teddy fought and fought but ended up losing. Chris was now almost throwing Teddy. When he let go Vern held on to Teddy and Gordie held Chris. I put my head down as a tear fell here and there. I head my hands clenched in fists. Chris and Teddy began to argue. Then Teddy said something that got me.
"I don't need a babysitter." He said.
"Yes you do!" Chris said. I went over to Teddy and slapped him right across the fast. The only thing you heard was the sound of my hand hitting his face with a loud SMACK! I lifted my head as Teddy turned his head back with a look of shock.
"You don't need a fucken babysitter?" I began with tears running down my face slowly." THEN DON'T ACT LIKE A FUCKEN IDIOT! DON'T ACT LIKE YOU CAN DO SHIT LIKE THAT! YOU HAD ME SCARED TO FUCKEN DEATH! YOU KNOW THAT!" I screamed.
"I could have dodged it." He said low and a little sadly. I yelled and walked way.
"Come on man skin it." Chris said. Then I heard their hands slide and knew that was over. But I still was fucken pissed. After a few minutes Teddy caught up to me. He had his head down.
"Uh...Jessie. Bout earlier..." He began. I turned my face slightly to his with a pissed look on it." I'm sorry. I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't mean to. Really." He said looking up at me. I sighed and stopped. So did he. He was about a foot away from me. I ran and gave him a huge hug. I felt a tear run down my face. We separated and began to walk again, only holding hands. We finally made it to the junk yarn and threw our bags over the fence. Teddy made a bomb like sound when he threw his over. I laughed and climbed over. ' Thank god I wore jeans and sneakers today' I thought to myself as I climbed over. We headed over to a shaded part and sat down. Gordie took his canteen and took some water in his mouth and spit it out into a can that was in front of us. I was sitting to the right of Teddy and Vern to his left with Gordie then Chris. We all did the same only Teddy spit it on Vern. We all laughed. Then we got down to business. Food. We wanted to send Vern but he suggested we all go. Ya right. Then we decided to flip coins. The first try we all got tails'Fuck' I thought. Then Vern started to talk about this bullshit that it was bad luck and blah blah blah. We flipped again and it turned out to be Gordie and I.
"Shit." We both said and got up. The guys said some smartass comment but I didn't hear it. Gordie did and told them to shut up.
"I don't shut up..." Teddy started." I grow up and when I look at you I throw up. Eh" Teddy said only Chris and Vern said it too. I rolled my eyes.
"Ya and then your mother goes around the corner and licks it up."Gordie said. I laughed. They all say "Ooh" and started to wrestle each other.
"Fags." I said and we walked away. The trip to the store was quite. When we got there Gordie asked me to get five cokes. I nodded and headed over to the cooler and grabbed five icy cold cokes and then put them on the counter. I noticed the owner talking to Gordie about his brother. I sighed. 'That's the last thing he needs to think about.' Little did I know he had already began and had a flash back to when he was with his brother.
With Sam