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.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Chapter Four

As the class came to a close, Chris began paying mind to the teacher. He mindlessly scribbled down the beginnings of her notes and glanced over at the raven-haired girl he would grow to adore.

"So what's your next class?" He asked her enthusiastically.

She stared at him for a moment, contemplating whether or not he was a complete jackass. How could he not know who she was, and why she was with Ace? Chris being uninformed seemed very improbable - his brother was Eyeball Chambers, best friend of Ace Merrill, after all.

"Are you stupid?" She asked, softly.

Her icy blue eyes were full of innocence and insecurities, and Chris saw them all. He doubted that Ace did, or ever would, see that very same thing. Upon realizing that he had not answered her question, he shook his head. "No, I'm not stupid," Chris replied with a grin.

"Then why don't you leave me alone? Ace will kill you if –"

Chris rolled his eyes, "I'm a Chambers. We can do anything."

"Oh really?" She questioned, skeptically.

He nodded, again with a grin.

"I doubt that," She replied, "I know your brother, remember?"

Chris rolled his eyes, "Bad example. Now, what class do you have?"

"English," She replied softly; she liked his perseverance.

"Hey, you've got another class with Gordie!"

"Okay," She replied with a shrug, and then walked off to her next class.

Chris decided that he would eventually pull this girl away from Ace Merrill, and in doing that win her for himself. He needed a plan. He needed Gordie, Vern, and Teddy's help. Okay, so maybe he could do with out Teddy's help.

Chris shook the thoughts from his head as he jogged to Physical Science. He skidded into the room, right before the bell rang and sat promptly next to Teddy, who had saved a seat for him.

After school, Audrey again helped poor Vern with his locker. She opened her own locker, put all her books away, having received no homework on the first day, and left the building. Ace was sitting on the hood of his baby, waiting for Audrey to get out of her last class. He had been waiting all day to see that gorgeous face of hers again, and once it finally appeared among the throng of others streaming out of the building, he smiled.

To Ace, Audrey was no longer just some girl. She was his girl, and he genuinely liked her. As cold and as heartless as he seemed, Ace Merrill liked Audrey Schmitt for who she was, inside and out. It was difficult for anyone to grasp, but especially difficult for himself to wrap his mind around. It was likely that Eyeball, Charlie, and the other wet-ends he hung around with would understand before Ace would even begin to realize that he loved Audrey, and by then, perhaps, it would be too late. Somewhere deep down inside though, he always knew that he would one day find a girl that would make him change his ways. Audrey, he thought, was that girl.

She smiled at him and sped up her pace to meet up with him. He smirked at her, in the same way he always had, and moved the toothpick between his lips from one side of his mouth to the other. She came up to him, and he removed aforementioned toothpick from his lips. Right then and there, Ace kissed Audrey. They pulled apart a few moments later.

"Ace, I thought you didn't want them to –" Audrey started.

"Fuck who sees," Ace replied, still in that calm tone.

She wondered, briefly, if it was possible to break Ace's calm tone; she wanted to hear him happy, anxious, excited, or even angry. Somewhere in her heart, she knew that no one could and that she would never hear any of those emotions in his voice. A sigh escaped her as they broke away from each other and both got into the car. Ace didn't hear the exasperated sigh, if he had he might have asked what was wrong.

The pair arrived at the Billiard hall soon after school. They met up with Charlie and Eyeball there, and the boys were both surprised to see that Audrey was still with Ace – their friend never kept girls around too long. If he had, it would have been a completely different story.

Charlie and Ace had placed a bet earlier that week about who could play pool better, and they were absorbed with their own game as Eyeball and Audrey started their own conversation. Eyeball eyed Audrey, suspiciously.

"So did ya meet my kid brother?" He asked her.

She shrugged, "Chris, right?"

She had to pretend that she had no idea who he was so that Ace wouldn't get irritated and go kick his ass. Audrey very much doubted that Chris could hold his own against Ace and his switchblade.

"Yeah, Chris," Eyeball nodded as he took his third consecutive shot.

"He sits next to me in Trigonometry with that skinny kid," Audrey shrugged.

Ace's ears perked to the mention of Chris being around Audrey. He didn't like the fact that he couldn't watch how they interacted. Ace had a bad feeling about Chris and Audrey and he didn't like it.

"Did he say anything to you?" Ace asked as he shot.

Audrey shook her head innocently, "No. He just talked to the skinny kid."

"What about any of the other boys?" Ace asked.

Audrey laughed, "Only Vern, but that was because his locker was stuck shut and I helped him."

"Why?" Ace asked, his attention fully on Audrey.

Audrey laughed again, "Because Ace, I'm not heartless. I felt bad for the kid."

Ace finally left it at that.

Audrey breathed in with relief; she didn't have to worry about Ace doing anything stupid to any of the kids she'd met today. She was also relieved, because he believed her lies. Had he not, she would be in a great deal of trouble with him. Which, for her, would not be good. She did like Ace, just as he liked her. The only difference was that she recognized the feelings as love, while he still wasn't sure what to call that feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever he saw her.

For Audrey, it was much more than just Ace's good looks. It was his personality; that calm, collected, and yet somehow menacing behavior. Of course there was also the way he was so open about sex, Audrey was a pervert in her own right and was happy to be with someone who felt the same way she did. They got along. They were good together. He trusted her, but if this was all true, then why was she so convinced that he was not the guy for her?