Ok, here's chapter 2! Something new to say, except to ask for some reviews.
I greatly appreciate reviews guys, to let me know how I'm doing. And if there's anything you'd like to see happen, I of course will take suggestions and requests. I'm here to write for you, not for personal gain.
So tell me what you think, and enjoy!
Seventh grade seems so long ago. Had it really been five years since I'd met my boys? Since Ray had died? Since I'd gotten completely out of my mind? Time flies.
Presently, the five of us were walking down the main street towards Vern's house, our graduation robes hanging loosely around our shoulders. Tromping through the tall grass in Vern's back field towards out makeshift hangout, a structure made of hocked wood from the junkyard no better than a shack, we were silent. Once inside, we threw down our caps but kept the robes on over our regular clothes. The silence lasted a few moments longer before Chris cheered loudly, Teddy pumped a fist in the air, and Vern started babbling away and gesticulating as fast as ever. I flopped down on the couch that used to furnish Vern's living room before his mom redecorated the house, next to my best friend.
"Gordie man," I said to him, totally deadpan, "We fuckin' graduated!" I yelled, pouncing on him. We laughed and screamed like we were twelve years old again while the others did about the same.
"We're done! No more." I smiled into his face as he grinned back.
"We're done." Gordie agreed. There were choruses of things along the same lines as someone pulled me off Gordie and swung me around the room. My shrieks melded with the guys' laughs into one cacophony of sound. It was the best fucking noise I'll ever remember, the sound of all of us together, just being happy.
We were staying the night in the little hovel we'd built a few years back, after a windstorm blew the treehouse to the ground. Our candles were still burning at three in the morning. And we had mellowed quite a bit, being worn out had made us all very philosophical and sentimental. Smoking some after-dinner Winstons helped chill us out too.
The guys were talking about something of little importance to me, something from before I met them, about Teddy falling out of a tree. Not being able to add to the conversation at hand, I just laid peacefully on the couch, my feet on Gordie's lap, staring into the flickering of the candle on the table in the center of the room. I smiled softly as I glanced over each face sharing the space with me, the faces of my boys.
There was Vern Tessio, who hadn't thinned out at all since puberty; it didn't really matter to me, or anyone else for that matter. Vern had always been slightly heavier than the rest of us; to be anything else would be against what made Vern, well Vern. I was very close with him, especially when I was having a rough patch. I didn't usually talk about my problems, for fear that I'd let something especially crazy slip in my weakened state; so I'd go to Vern to be talked at until I felt better. He wasn't much for listening, which I actually appreciated. He was still a sweetheart, and never pried. He could have me feeling happy in a matter of minutes on a good day. Even though he didn't actually solve my problems, time spent with Vern was never time wasted.
Chris Chambers was sitting opposite me, his face partially obscured by the flame of the candle. He had grown tall and rugged within five years, but still maintained an overall innocence many found charming. Of all the boys, Chris and I got along the worst. That's not to say I didn't like Chris; we just had a tendency to butt heads. He being the leader, Chris liked to know everything about all of us; and I, being the stubborn girl I am, didn't appreciate him meddling in my affairs like my father. Also, I had some kind of power, being the only girl in the group, which seemed to rub him the wrong way. But we still got along. He was protective and really cared about keeping us all safe; I could tell he would go on to be an excellent person. He had done very well in his college classes during junior high and high school; he'd get out of Castle Rock and do great things.
I felt Gordie Lachance, my best friend, rest a hand on my ankle, causing me to look down the couch towards him. Still as skinny as when I'd first met him, I had to wonder if he'd always be a beanpole. Not to mention he was the tallest of all of us, getting on 5'11" or 6". Gordie and I were very similar; it was class that brought us together and brains that bonded us. He, Chris, and I had been some of the smartest kids in our graduating class; none of us got Valedictorian though. I smiled, thinking how deep Gordie was in the "friend zone". I'm not sure if he'd ever thought of me as more, but lord knows I never did. Poor guy. He was so sweet, but he just wasn't my number. Don't get me wrong, I love Gordie, he was special. And he's make some girl very happy in university, but that girl's name would never be Anet Lafaith. Alphabetical friends were forever, but we'd never date. But I think that's what we were brought together for, so the both of us will always have the other. Nothing more, nothing less. He was there for me even when I told him not to be. The kid had taken hits for me! And worse, one time junior year. He'd never know how much I appreciated him being my friend. Gordie was something else.
And then there was Teddy Duchamp. As if hearing my thoughts, aforementioned boy reached a hand down to push back my bangs so I could see his face, behind the huge horn-rimmed glasses he'd always had. Understanding what we wanted, I sat up slightly so he could move from the armrest to seat cushions. I laid my head back down in his lap, a smile on my lips as he continued to play with my hair.
Teddy and I were kindred spirits. We were both fucking insane; when we weren't stable we were incoherent to anyone but the other guys. It was something to bond over, but we also seemed to share something I didn't have with the other boys. Something hard to label. It was weird to try to describe, but that didn't keep me from spending hours thinking about it. In the end I called it sex appeal, but I also knew it wasn't that superficial. My love for Teddy wasn't like my love for Vern or Chris or even Gordie; it was singular, unique, and unequalled. I just didn't like feeling more strongly for one of them than I felt for the others; it wasn't something I did, having favorites. So only in my mind did I acknowledge any of this.
The first time I noticed this connection to Teddy was in the summer before high school. The boys were in the throes of full-blown puberty, being at that weird age of transitioning from tweens to teenagers. I had been stable for a whole two years, girls starting earlier, but being around four boys hyped on testosterone all the time made me feel hormonal all over again. Like a contact high but with more tears and raging; it wasn't that fun. We were all pretty unbalanced that summer, and it conveniently reached a peak on the hottest day of the year. We were swimming in the "lake", which was really an old flooded quarry; this had quickly become the boys' favorite past time.
I had exited the water not long after entering; I preferred not to be half naked around the guys when they were this hormonal. Changing behind a big tree, I didn't even bother to towel dry myself, just wanting to cover up fast. I guess it worked out fine, in retrospect; it wouldn't have mattered with what happened next. Just as I slipped my baggy shirt over myself, someone peered around the tree.
"Teddy!" I had screamed, pulling the hem of my T-shirt over my underwear as best as I could. I remember him not saying anything as he came to stand in front of me, still dripping wet. His hands were warm on either side of my face as he leaned in to kiss me. I don't know where it came from, but an explosion of ecstasy catapulted me forward to him, my arms wrapping around his neck as his hands moved to hold my waist. I was soaked by the time Gordie came looking for us. I don't think he saw us, but he could probably piece together what had happened when he saw our guilty looks. I don't think we ever talked about it, Gordie and I. But I know for sure Teddy and I never did; we didn't know what to say, or if we even should think about it. We'd had other moments since then, but nothing ever quite like that very first kiss. My first kiss. I wondered if he knew that. I don't know; I don't know how to ask if he knew. We never mentioned it again, so nothing came of our kiss behind the tree that summer.
And I had to wonder if anything ever would. Looking up into Teddy's face, I caught his eyes. We just stared at each other, and I somehow knew that he was thinking about it too.
Maybe this summer, the summer of 1964, would be different for us. Maybe something would change.
