Cause You Were Here
Disclaimer; I do not own Stand By Me, or any Characters related to it or to the original Novella 'The Body' by Stephen King. I'm pretty sure that the master of horror himself owns said properties, and I'm not going to even start to defy that. I do, however, own Audrey - her parents Alan and Georgina and any other random OCs throughout this tale.
Author's Note; This has been re-written to improve not only grammar and style but story line as well. If you are a dedicated reader of this story, you may want to re-read through the story since the relationship with Ace is a tad different and the development of the relationship with Chris has also changed. Also, Audrey's story has been delved into more, and her character has changed in a few ways.
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Chapter Three
Audrey walked slowly over the school yard. She felt people staring, their gazes burning into her skin, evading her privacy, and wanting to know why Ace Merrill dropped her off at school. She watched as a blonde boy with blue eyes approached with a slightly less than attractive boy in tow. She kept her head down and proceeded to the entrance of the school.
Her hand reached the doors, but the boys approached her before she had the chance to enter the school and dissipate into the safety of the crowded halls. They cleared their throats, demanding her attention.
She turned around, "Yes boys?"
"Did Ace Merrill just drop you off?" They asked collectively.
She shrugged, "Maybe, what's it to you?"
The light-haired boy stood staring at her, as if he knew more about her than she thought. He stared at her like she should not have been hanging out with a guy like Ace. He stared at her as if she were someone worth while. In her head, she laughed at him.
"Is your name Audrey?" The light-haired boy asked.
She shrugged again.
"Do you know Eyeball Chambers?" He questioned.
"Yes," She replied.
He frowned, "Why are you hanging out with a guy like Ace?" And there it was, the questioned she had been waiting for from her parents for months, and from either of the boys for at least three minutes now.
She had the strongest urge to say, "Because he's sexy." She held her tongue and instead, opened the door, ignoring the boy who was so inquizitive. Audrey headed to the office to get her schedule and then found her locker on the first floor. As she swung open the door, she noticed that the boy next to her was having trouble with his locker.
She smiled at him, softly, "Need a hand?"
"Please," He said, a little helplessly.
"What's your combination?" She asked, standing in front of his locker.
"18," He said.
She turned to the number.
"27."
She turned the opposite way to that number.
"9."
She turned to that one and tried to open it. It didn't open at first, so she kicked it. It popped open almost effortlessly after that.
"There ya go," She smiled.
"Thank you, sincerely," He said excitedly as he stuffed many a book into his locker.
"You're welcome," She replied and placed her own books into her locker.
The boy looked inquisitively up at her, "What's your name?"
"Audrey Schmitt, yourself?"
"Vern Tessio."
Great. I'm surrounded by my boyfriend's friend's brothers, She thought emotionlessly.
"What's your first class?"
"Math," She replied.
"I have shop," He said, almost sadly.
She shrugged, "Have fun."
"You too!" He called as she walked away from their set of locker and up the stairs to the assigned classroom.
She entered the small, dusky room that smelled like moth balls and sat near the middle of the class. The two boys from earlier entered, and the light-haired one smirked at her. He took a seat next to her and the dark haired boy sat in front of him. They started laughing at apparently nothing. She glanced at them with mock-annoyance.
"What's your name anyway?" She asked, the dark-haired one.
She full-well knew the name of the light-haired boy.
"Gordie LaChance, and you are?"
"Audrey Schmitt."
"Why didn't you ask for my name?" The light-haired boy asked.
She smiled at him, "I already know your name."
"Oh yeah, and what is it?"
"Christopher Chambers."
"How did you–" He asked, his jaw dropping.
"Ace and Eyeball talk about you all the time." She responded and looked up to the teacher who hurried into the room.
She was a short, pudgy lady of maybe thirty-six. Her cheeks were red from rushing up the stairs and into the classroom - something that Chris, Gordie, Audrey, and their classmates would grow accustumed to. Mrs. Finnigan, their math teacher, was often late and absent-minded, however that is a different story for a different time. The class began shortly after that, and with Math being Chris' easiest class of the day, he spent his time paying attention to Audrey instead of the lesson or the jibber-jabber of first day of school gossip.