A/N: Yay! My first Stand By Me fic! It's basically just my little idea of how the boys met each other. Please review, reviews make me smile!
Disclaimer: I don't own. Sad but true.
"Good luck Bro," Denny Lachance whispered to his six-year-old brother as they stood together in front of Gordie's first grade classroom.
Gordie looked up at his brother with worried eyes. "What if nobody likes me?" He said, nearly inaudibly.
"Are you kidding, how could they not?" Denny replied as he affectionately ruffled Gordie's hair. "And," He continued, "I snuck some cookies into your lunchbox when mom wasn't looking."
Gordie flashed a small smile, their mother was a big believer in "health food" and he almost never got cookies for lunch, "Thanks Denny," He said, "I love you."
"Love you too. I'll meet you on the steps at three o'clock, okay?" The two hugged and Denny watched lovingly as he watched Gordie step into one of the three first grade classrooms.
He stood and watched through the door window for a moment, truthfully he was worried about Gordie making friends. He was precocious and small for his age, easy material to get picked on.
Denny was slightly reassured however as he watched the teacher come over to Gordie and show him to a table where some other boys and girls were coloring.
Gordie was enjoying school so far, it wasn't too different from kindergarten, and they got markers that didn't have teeth marks from demonic three year olds. But the just as he was about to take a bite of his turkey on wonder bread sandwich, the last member of their class arrived.
Gordie recognized him right away, from one time when he and his mother had past him and his mother by in the supermarket. He remembered his mother muttering to Denny about how he came from a family full of drunks and criminals and how he was surely going to be a headache for the elementary school teachers. And Gordie had been taught by his strict father to never doubt his mother's words.
Instinctively, Gordie slid out of his seat and under the table where he pushed himself up against the wall, so that he could see everything that was happening, but no one could see him.
He watched as the teacher, Mrs. Briggs, came over and chastised the boy for being late. Gordie frowned, another boy had arrived five minutes ago and he hadn't gotten into trouble; maybe Mrs. Briggs knew about his family too. The boy was ushered over to the time out bench, where he had to sit for fifteen minutes for being late. And he would receive no sticker like the other boys and girls at the end of the day. The boy was a lot closer then and Gordie could see that his face was full of scratches and scabs. Uh oh, maybe he really was rough with other kids.
The day continued, and the boy, whom Gordie discovered was named Chris, was seated at a table with a pudgy boy, a girl who picked her nose, and hardly any working markers. Gordie felt a twinge of sympathy for him.
Then came free time, and Gordie blindly followed the other boys and girls out onto the playground, carrying his lunch box protectively. He had been saving his cookies all day, so that the other kids could be envious watching him eat them. What a stupid idea that had been.
All of a sudden a sixth grader came up to Gordie and pulled his lunchbox out of his hands. "What do you think you're doing?"
Gordie looked up startled, even if he had been expected to be bullied, he's have thought it was going to be by someone his own age. This kid was BIG.
Gordie shuddered and tried to speak, "I-I." He felt his upper lip begin to quiver involuntarily.
"I'll tell you what, since you're new to the rules of recess, I'll let you off with a small price to pay." The boy reached into Gordie's shiny new backpack and pulled out his favorite comic that he'd brought along for comfort on the first day.
He put it right in front of Gordie's nose, and to Gordie's horror began to rip the front page down the middle. Gordie looked around desperately for Denny. He was nowhere in sight. But someone else was.
"Leave him alone!"
Gordie and the bully both turned, surprised, Gordie even more so as he spotted the trouble boy standing their, hands on his hips. "Leave him alone, he didn't do nothing to you!"
"Why you little –" The sixth grader started in on Chris.
"Mr. Merrill, what do you think you're doing?!" A teacher shrieked as she noticed how he had Chris by the collar. "These boys are six years old!" She angrily pulled him away from Chris and across the yard, back into the middle school.
"Sorry about him," Chris said kindly, reaching his hand up to help Gordie down. "He's friends with my brother and can be really mean to me too. I'm sorry he took your comic."
"That's okay," Gordie responded shyly, deciding that maybe his mother could be wrong sometimes. He hesitated for a second and then reached into his bag of cookies and held one out to Chris, "Do you want one?"
"Sure, thanks!" Chris exclaimed gratefully.
As they walked back inside a few minutes early since some crazy kid had jumped off of the swing set, Gordie contemplated what he thought about his new friend. He eventually came to the conclusion that he was still afraid of him, but in a different kind of way. Now he was more afraid that he would never be as brave as Christopher Chambers.
A/N: There's more coming about how they meet Teddy and Vern. Pretty, pretty please review! And be honest about whether or not it was good, because I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing. Thanks for reading!