Disclaimer: Not mines, anything mention by name isn't mines. Except the OCs.

A/N: Wow, 7 chapters, never thought this would make it this far. I like to thank everybody who's left a review, as well as everybody would who has favorite and follow alerted this fic. Means a lot to me to know a lot of folks are enjoying this.


Ok, so I challenged Ace to a fight, how the hell am I gonna get out of this one?

I could call it off, but then it be like admitting he had already won. I could call in a sick day and that we could reschedule, but that would make me look like a coward. Maybe I could pack up my stuff and skip out of town, find a new city with a new identity and a new name? Nah that was the movies, this is real-life. I had accepted this was something I had to do.

I had Willy helping me train, but I'm sure how effective it was. He keeps telling me how he had fought 'in the War', but he never really specify which war it was, World War I or World War II since he kept using 'Germans' and 'Nazis' interchangeably ("You call that a punch? The Nazis would laugh at ya!" "You gotta be on your feet fasta than that if you were fightin' the Germans!"). Well, he said he was born in 1898 (I'm friends with someone who was born at the turn of the 20th century!) , so I guess it can go either way?

Anyhoo, I was out jogging and practicing my swings. Y'know, the same type of training you see in Rocky movies or shows that homage it, when I heard faint voices in the distance. Turned and saw it was near the park.

"Should I check it out? Last time's why I'm even doing this." I debated with myself, but I guess curiosity won out so I ventured out into the park trying to find the voices until they got louder.

"Get down before you break your neck!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

The voices kept getting louder and louder until I looked through a bush and saw it was Gordie, Chris, Teddy, and I think the fat kid who hangs around the grocery store. They're all friends? I could see Teddy climbing up a tree with Chris not too far behind, while Gordie and the fat kid watched them. Man, poor Teddy, kid can't seem to catch a break.

"Come on Teddy, you're getting too high!" Chris called out to him.

"You ain't my old man Chambers! This is totally a good vantage point!" Teddy argued back.

"Climb down already, you're gonna fall and break your neck!" Chris tried to reason with him. Wait, is Chris trying to talk him out of it?

"Just let him go Chris, Teddy's crazy enough to do this!" Gordie called out to him

"Yeah, you know Teddy's always gonna be doing stuff like this, sincerely!" The fat kid chimed in, but I could see Chris was really determine to help out the kid.

"You're gonna fall man, stop climbing!" Chris shouted.

"Stop telling me what to do Cham- ah AHHHHH!" Teddy tried to retort but got cut off as one of the tree branches he was standing on started to break and he lost his balance. "Ah shit, shit shit!"

"Teddy grab my hand!" Chris called out to him reaching. Teddy tried to reach it but the branch started to give away more. Gordie and the fat kid were on the ground looking up at them in worry.

"I can't!" He called back.

"Keep trying!" Chris strained his hand out. Teddy almost grasped it when the branch completely broke off.

"Looks like I'm going down!" Teddy screamed but was shocked when his dissent to the ground was halted. "Whoa, Chris man." Teddy said looking up and seeing Chris had caught him, going red in the face trying to support his weight.

It was at this point I couldn't keep watching and ran up to the boys and help out before they both came falling down.

"Hey!" I called out to them and all four snapped their heads my way, looking at me in a mixture of shock and surprise.

"Hey, that's the guy I was telling you guys could become our bodyguard!" Teddy told his friends.

"Now's not the time Duchamp." Chris reminded him. Gordie and the fat kid moved aside so I could climb up the tree and reach them. Eventually I was able to get Teddy so all three of us could safely climb down.

"Wow man, saving my ass again, I owe you one." Teddy said before he started laughing and my god, it was like a hyena on stereo. "Oh, I should introduce you to the guys, these are…"

"Yeah, I've already met most of them." I told him as I nodded at each, "Hey Gordie, Chris, … Kid who comes to the grocery store."

"Yeah, I'm Vern." He said.

"Vern." I repeated.

"So I heard from my brother you challenge Ace to a fight, you're either really brave or really stupid." Chris told me in a amuse tone. I just scratched my head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I can't decide if I'm either of those things too."

"Wait, what fight?" Vern asked. Wait, you mean it hadn't already spread through Castle Rock like wildfire?

"Yeah Vern, Bryce here gonna fight Ace from the Cobras." Gordie explained to him. Wait, did he say 'Cobras'?

"Oh yeah, I heard about the Cobras. My brother Billy and Charlie Hogan want to join their gang to." Vern noted.

"T'ch, good luck with that, like Ace gonna let anyone in." Teddy scoffed.

"Wait, hold on here, Cobras? Who are they?" I interrupted this convo.

"Yeah, the Cobras, that's what Ace, Eyeball, Vince Desjardin, Fuzzy, and Jack are calling themselves." Chris explained. "If you ask me, the name fits them perfectly, they're all a bunch of snakes!"

"Ok, sensing some animosity here." I commented. "I know Teddy said you guys don't get along, but are they that bad?"

Chris just rolled his eyes. "Are you kidding? They're always pushing us around, stealing our stuff, threatening us, once they locked us all up in a barn all night or tried to run us over with one of their cars for kicks."

I just stared agaped. "And none of your parents or the police have done anything about it?"

"Naw, they've been jailed before, but their folks are always paying them bail, and we're right back to where we started." Chris said. Jesus, is this one fucked up place or what.

"But that's gonna change right? Bryce gonna fight Ace, kick his ass, and maybe without him around, the others might leave us alone." Vern said hopefully.

"Forget Vern, don't forget my brother Ace's right-hand guy. Even if Bryce gets rid of Ace, my brother could take over and nothing would change." Chris explained.

"Besides, I remember Denny telling me when Bryce tried to fight them and got his ass kicked bad." Gordie chimed in and actually started to laugh, laugh!

"Hey! I was handling them pretty well!" I defended myself, "Until they started ganging up on me." I said the last part meekly. Eventually the others started laughing and I'm not ashamed to admit I joined in to.

"Come on guys, let's get out of here, it's getting close to dinner time." Gordie said and the others started nodding.

"Yeah guys, I'm starting to get hungry." Vern chimed in.

"You're always hungry." Teddy sniped.

"Come on Teddy, Verno can't help it, he's a growing boy." Gordie joked.

"Yeah, that's it guys, go pick on the fat kid." Vern mumbled as the boys walked away bantering. Gotta say, it feel weird seeing Gordie joking around since every time I tried to interact with the kid, he always clammed up. Guess he's one of those people who tends to open up to those he already knows? I was about to depart to when I heard Chris call out to me.

"Hey wait, Bryce!" I turned to see the kid coming towards me. I'll admit, I shirked back a bit. "Hey man, I wanna say thanks for helping out Teddy back there."

"Oh, it was nothing." I told him quickly but he continued.

"And I wanna say sorry for how I acted a few weeks back." He admitted. You could feel the sincerity coming from them.

"Oh it's no big deal." I tried to explain to him.

"Yes it was," He countered, "I had gotten into an argument with my dad and then you came along and I took out my anger on you, and I was wrong for doing that."

"About what?" Okay, now I was getting curious.

"It was about dinner, how we don't appreciate him, and how he would be better off without us to feed." Chris explained. Why am I not surprise by this?

"I heard you have it bad at home, but I didn't realize it was that bad." Chris just nodded and motioned for me to follow him.

"Yeah, that's why I don't want people thinking they need to feel sorry for me."

"Does it bother you?" I asked him.

"Hell yeah it bothers me, but I just don't want anyone thinking that just because I got it bad at home that I need a pair of arms to come running into and a shoulder to cry on whenever things get rough. I'm tougher than I look."

"I can agree with that." I told him. And I don't mean emotionally. Even with his age and the baby face he's rocking, Chris Chambers does have that touch guy appearance to him With his developing muscles and short haircut, he looks just as likely to pat you on the back as he would stick a knife in it. We walked some more before speaking up. "So, does everybody in this town think you're bad? Just talking to you, you seem pretty ok."

"Most do." He said, "Mostly those who went to school with a dad or with Eyeball before he dropped out in tenth grade, so they look at me and think, 'There goes the youngest one, already starting to look like his father, soon he'll be like him in no time.'" The Chris let out a sigh. "They all judge me before they even get to know me."

Man, just hearing that made me want to wrapped the kid up in a hug but I resisted.

"Well if it means anything to you, that fact you tried to save Teddy from falling and busting his head tells me you got your heart in the right place." I gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Chris snorted, "Yeah, good luck trying to convince most of the population of Castle fucking Rock."

Wow, such language.

"Well, looking at your friends, you probably already have." I injected. Chris seem to think it over and nodded.

"I guess," he said, "I better catch up with the guys. It was nice talking to you Bryce." Before running off, he looked back and said, "And good luck with your fight this Saturday, I'll be cheering for you."

Oh right, thanks for reminding me Chris, two more days to go.