Disclaimer: Not mines. Anything here mention by name isn't mine saved for the OCs.
A/M: Whoo, been a long time since I've last written anything, time to stretch out those creative muscles. Also, to warn everybody, this fic contains racism, the use of the N-word, as well as White Passing. Enjoy!
"Denny!" shouted Mr. Lachance from inside the house. Denny stopped mowing the lawn to answer his father.
"Yeah Pop?" He shouts to his father who was standing in the doorway leading to the backyard.
"Denny I need you to run to the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner." Mr. Lachance told him as he handed over a list and some money. Nodding, Denny took it, went to his jeep, and drove to the store. At the stoplight, another car had pulled up. Denny glanced to the side and rolled at his eyes at who it was.
"Well, well well, ain't it Goody-Two Shoes Denny Lachance." Sneered Jack Mudgett, along with Fuzzy Brackowicz and Vince Desjardian. "What are you doing, running errands for your mommy? Well aren't you a good boy." Jack jeered and the other two snickers. Denny kept his eyes on the road and tighten his fists around the steering wheel. He knew they were trying to bait him in order for him to lash out so they could get a cheap thrill.
After what felt like an agonizing long time, the stop light turned green and the two cars drove off, Jack's speeding up faster.
"See you around Lachance!" Jack shouted. After rolling his eyes, he kept onto his route before reaching the grocery store.
"Ok, I think that's everything." Denny said going over the list. "All that left are these tomatoes." Heading towards the vegetable aisle, Denny spotted a big red juicy one but when he made a go to grab it, another hand appeared. "Oh, sorry." He apologized and recoiled the hand.
"No problem man, you take it." Said the voice. Denny looked at the person and saw it was a boy, around his age or slightly younger with light brown curly hair and rather tanned skin.
"No, that's ok, I can take this one." Denny grabbed another tomato without looking.
"I don't think you do unless you like rotten tomatoes." The person laugh as Denny look down and saw he had pick up a wrinkled and somewhat dried tomato with some brown holes on it. Denny immediately yelp and dropped it.
"Seriously, just take it." The boy picked up the tomato and palm it to him.
"Thanks." Replying sheepishly, the two got in line. "Are you new in town? I don't think I've seen you around before." The smile was removed from the boy's face.
"Yeah, moved in here about a week ago." He said, looking down at the ground.
"How come I haven't seen you at school?"
"I've been homeschooled so far, me and my sister. My folks think it would be safer for us."
Denny was curious by what he meant by that, but decided not to press on.
"Oh, I guess I should introduce myself." Denny said extending a hand, "I'm…"
"Denny Lachance." He answered for him, leaving Denny surprised. "The football star, I know." Denny stood in shock before shaking his head and rolling his eyes.
"Only a week and you already know who I am." Denny surpressed a laugh.
"Kinda hard not to when you're pictured on the front page of the newspaper." The boy teased.
"That's small town life for you, where a high schooler scoring a few touchdowns is consider headline news."
"Ahem!" Came out a new voice, causing both boys to jump and look as the cashier stared at them.
"Sorry!" Denny called out, and then turned to the boy, "You go on ahead." But the boy simply waves his hand dismissively.
"Naw man, you were ahead of me first, you go." Denny looked at him before proceeding.
After the two had paid for the groceries, they both left the store and went their separate ways.
"Wait, I never got your name!" Denny shouted but the boy disappeared. Shrugging, he put the food into the back, got into his jeep, started it, and put it in reverse. But before he sped off, he looked into the rearview and saw the boy, but he was being surrounded by Jack, Fuzzy, and Vince. Curious, Denny rolled down the window to hear what was going on.
"Didn't we tell you not to come back here?" He heard Vince say.
"Look guys, I just came to get some grocery, let me go and I'll be out of your hair pretty soon." The boy tried to reason and slink away but the others ended up barring his path.
"We don't want your kind around here if you can't make up your mind." Fuzzy told him.
"I say we teach the half-nigger here a lesson." Jack announce and the other two nodded in agreement. The boy looked around nervously before trying to make a break for it, only for Jack to block his path. Denny watched as Vince smack the groceries out of his hands, the contents spilling onto the ground, before the three Cobras started shoving the boy around until Jack punched him in the gut before back handing him across the face. The boy charged at Jack and tackled him the ground, giving him a few punches to the face. Fuzzy tried to pull him off only for the boy the elbow him in the chest and sock him in the face. That was when Vince join in and started to overpower him due to the being the more buffer of the three Cobras.
The boy could hold his own in a fight, but it was clear he was being overcrowded and overpowered. No longer being able to sit by and watch this, Denny jump out the car and barreled over to them, grabbing Jack by the shoulders and shoving him out the way.
"This doesn't concern you Lachance, this is between us and the half-nigger!" Jack yelled but Denny ignored him and help the boy up.
"You know," Denny said to the boy, "three against one isn't really fair, why do ya say we even the odds?" He turned to the boy smiling. The boy stared at him like he was crazy before nodding his head and smiling back.
A fight broke out between the five, Denny and the boy initially struggling at first before getting the upper hand and knocking the three Cobras on their asses.
"Don't think we're gonna forget this Lachance!" Cried out Jack from his bleeding mouth and nose, "Next time its war between you and the half-nigger!" And with that, the three Cobras fled. Rubbing his sore knuckles, Denny watch them leave before turning to the boy.
"Here, let me help you with those." Denny said as he picked up the spilled groceries and put them back into the bag.
"You didn't have to do this man, now they're gonna come after you!" The boy tried to warn you but Denny merely shrugged.
"They're the Cobras, they act like assholes to pretty much everybody." He explained. "Just be glad they weren't with Ace."
"Sounds like you had some run-ins with them yourself." The boy notice.
"I've had my fair share of encounters" Denny said, putting the rest of the food in the bag, "Normally I try to turn the other cheek, but when they get too rough, especially with my little brother and his friends."
"Well, thanks for the help man, I best be going." The boy tried to make his leave only for Denny to stop him by grabbing his shoulder.
"Wait, let me give you a ride home." The boy just shook his head.
"You don't have to do that." The boy pleaded, "I can make it."
"You look like you can barely make it to the corner and hold you bag." Denny tried to reason.
"You've done too much, I don't wanna sidetrack you too much."
"It's nothing, not like I'm in a hurry to get home, I was mowing the lawn." The boy looked at Denny, before agreeing and they both went into the car. As they drove down the road, Denny spoke up again, "Sorry, I didn't catch your name."
"Franklin." The boy said.
"Franklin." Denny repeated. They continued on driving until Denny spoke up again. "Franklin, those guys, they called you a…" He felt uneasy repeating the words, "half-nigger." He winced when he saw Franklin winced. "Why was that?"
Franklin stared hard at the road before answering, never looking at the driver. "Because that's what I am. My father's a white man, my mother's a negro woman, thus I'm a half-nigger." Denny stayed quiet. Franklin then glanced at him, expecting him to say more, when he didn't he continued. "My father thought it would be a good idea to move here, thinking if we lived in some small secluded town, we could live in peace without anybody bothering us. He got that wrong."
"So then how did Jack and the others find out about you?" Denny inquired. If a mixed family had moved into town, you think word would spread throughout.
"They saw us moving into one of the houses that one of their friends… Eyelid or Eyelash or something lives by."
"And that's why you're homeschooled." Denny said understanding and Franklin nodded. "Well it's a good thing I was here, those guys could have seriously put you in the hospital or even killed you."
When he said that, Franklin chuckled, though there was no humor in it. "Maybe it would've been better off if they did."
When Franklin said that, Denny immediately hit the brakes, causing them both to jerk forward and the groceries to shake. He stared at him.
"Don't say that!" Denny yelled but Franklin glared at him.
"Why not?" He asked, daring Denny to give him a reason, "I'm not white enough for the white kids and I'm not black enough for the few black kids that live in this town to hang out with. And it's not like I have any friends who are going to miss me!"
Denny thought about this. It was true that not many black families lived in Castle Rock. He remembers how some of his teammates would jeer or taunt at them whenever walked by and Denny himself was ashamed to admit he had been pressured into joining the jeering to.
"Well now you have a friend in me." Denny told him.
"Hah!"
"Really man, you need someone looking out for you. And not to toot my own horn, but I am Denny Lachance. Anyone seeing you hanging out with me will probably think you're a cool guy." Denny reasoned. Franklin seem to be contemplating this before Denny spoke up again. "This your neighborhood?"
Franklin woke up from his trance. "Yeah, the green house on the very end." He said pointing at it. Denny looked around, the rusted and broken chain linked fences, the unkept lawns, and rundown looking houses. Yep, this is the same neighborhood the Chambers family lives in. Once they reach the house, they saw a little girl playing with a hoola hoop. Denny looked at her, she looked a lot like Franklin, though her skin was just a smidge darker then his. After parking the car on the curb, the two boys got out to get the groceries. That was when the little girls stop playing with the hoola hoop and ran over to them.
"Franklin, you're back—" She stopped and paused once she got a good look at him. "What happen to you?!" She exclaimed. That's was when she saw Denny and marched up to him, putting her hands on her hips. "Did you do this to him?" She glared, staring up at him accusingly. Denny had to do everything in his power not to laugh at her as she stared him down. He was pretty impression she loved her brother that much.
Franklin just rolled his eyes. "Naw Rosie, this is actually a good friend of mines, his name his Denny." He introduced. Rosie just stared at Denny before she turned tail and ran back into the house. Denny watched her go until Franklin jabbed him with his elbow.
"Hmm?"
"Didn't you say you had a brother?"
"Yeah?"
"How old is he?"
"Twelve going on thirteen, why?"
Franklin smirked. "Rosie's eleven going on twelve. I just wanna make sure you weren't getting any ideas into your head about playing matchmaker with our siblings."
Denny looked flabbergast. "What? No, I wasn't getting any ideas!" He tried to shoot down before seeing the other boy laugh and he started laughing to. Eventually the front door open and out came Rosie along with a robust black woman and a chubby white man with a receding hairline. Those must be their parents Denny thought.
"Oh my goodness graces, Franklin my baby, what happen to you? Who did this to you? I knew I shouldn't have let you try to go to the store by yourself!" She said franticly as she ran her hands all over his face.
"Ma! Ma, its ok, really." Franklin pleaded, "Besides I made a new friend. This is—" But he got cut off by his father.
"Aren't you the Denny Lachance?" Franklin's father asked him. Denny just looked bashful and nodded. He hated when people referred to him as THE Denny Lachance, like he was some celebrity when all he was was just another guy.
"Oh thank you Denny for helping out my boy." Franklin's mother gushed. "Say, we're about to sit down for dinner, you wanna join us."
"I would love to," Denny said, "But I unfortunately have to get back home, I still have chores lef to do." Franklin's mother and father looked dejected. "But maybe tomorrow?"
Franklin's father nodded. "Tomorrow it is then." Then he stuck out a hand. "Nice meeting you Denny." Denny took the hand and shook it.
"Nice meeting you to sir." And with that he headed back to his jeep. "I'll see you around Franklin." Denny called out.
"See you tomorrow to." The other boy said. Denny got into his car, started it up, and drove off, watching the family head back into their home in the sidemirror.
True to his word, Denny did come back tomorrow for dinner. Franklin's family adored him so much they kept inviting him over. The two started to hang out more and eventually Denny brought him to hang out with his jock friends. There were a few who didn't like it, but there was not they could do about it what with Denny as team captain.
One day in April, Denny had invited Franklin to come to a party with him by the lake, but Franklin declined, saying he wouldn't be able to go, but they could go do something tomorrow. Unfortunately, that tomorrow never came because it was all over the news that Denny Lachance had died in a Jeep accident in the newspaper.
3 years later, and Franklin was walking through a cemetery holding a pot of flowers. He scanned the tombstones before resting his eyes on the one on the hill. He put the pot down and looked at the tombstone.
DENNIS JONES LACHANCE
1941 – 1959
SON, BROTHER, SPORTS HERO
"You saved my life Lachance. I just wished I could've saved yours'.
The End.