(A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a little bit shorter than the others)

Michael tapped his short, dirty fingernails on his school desk. He ran his hand over the carvings "EB + RW" "school sucks" and "grass is a blast". He was frustrated; in just a few minutes he'd be walking home again, just as he did every afternoon, but this time she would be there. Who was this Maggie anyway and why did his dad feel the need to be a good Samaritan, why couldn't he just leave well enough alone? The bell shrieked loudly through the school, signaling an end to another day. Michael didn't even bother to wait for his friend Anthony, he had to get home and show Maggie who was boss.

The walk home was so warm Michael stripped off his spring jacket and let it drag behind him. How long did his father intend on letting Maggie stay? Didn't his opinion matter? Michael faced the front door, but did not open approach it. Instead, he crept to the bay windows located in the front of the living room. No sign of her. He backed up onto the grass letting his eyes wander upwards into Uncle Denny's old room. He spotted Maggie lying face-up on the plain comforter writing something. The pen glided across the page effortlessly, she never heard Michael storm inside the front door, letting it slam behind him.

Something inside his twelve year old heart snapped. She was making herself comfortable, she was making herself at home! He shoved his bag onto the table ignoring the books as they tumbled out. Maggie came up behind him saying "you dropped this" and handed him the grammar book.

"No, I didn't" Michael pointed out ungratefully.

"Oh" she sighed and leaned over the fridge as Michael reached for a brownie in the fridge. "Your father had to go out on an errand so--" "So why didn't you go with him?" oh how he wished she would have. " 'Cuz I wasn't invited" she explained.

"I wonder why" Michael looked directly into the girl's eyes hoping to intimidate her.

"Excuse me?" Maggie stepped away from the refrigerator.

"You heard me" he shot at her, his mouth curling up in a smirk. "You don't seem to get it, you are not part of this family so don't get so comfy cosey, 'kay?"


"I know I'm not part of this family; I had a family of my own you know! Don't worry, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me to. I just thought it was nice that your mom and dad let me stay here, enjoy your brownie!" she screamed throwing a plate of brownies onto the counter.

Maggie let the anger build in her face before she walked away, stomping upstairs as she came to "her" room. Maggie bit back the tears that soon flooded her eyes. She just wanted to be home again, to live in the white house with beige shutters and a white, wooden door. She threw the notebook she had been scribbling in, it crashed loudly against the blue walls. She didn't blame Michael completely; he was caught in the middle of a terribly awkward situation. She felt the walls close in around her again, just as they had done before. The night her mother died she had felt all the rooms in the hospital crowd around her, sandwiching her between the two sides of the hall. She desperately needed air, good, fresh air.


Gordie felt slightly better. Chris had promised to do everything he could, but until Gordie talked face-to-face with Teddy, there could be no plan of action. It had begun to rain steadily, as afternoon slowly turned to night and Gordie tried not to track fresh mud onto the kitchen tile.

"Where's Maggie?" Gordie panted as he came in the door dripping wet.

"How should I know, does it look like we're buddies?" Michael asked roughly

"No, but I hope your not being as rude to her as you were to me just now" Gordie scolded ripping the pencil Michael had been using from his hand. "Can you please go get her?" Gordie pleaded pointing to the staircase.

"Fine."


Uncle Denny's old room was quiet; maybe she was just blowing off steam, writing in that notebook he'd seen her with earlier. He hadn't meant to make her upset; he just needed to tell Maggie how he really felt. There was no crime in being truthful. But had Michael crossed the line, from truthful to hurtful?


Outside the air was filled with the scent of the coming season. Maggie had once loved many things, including summer. But now she wished she could prevent time from moving forward. She hugged her own shoulders walking slowly as puddles gathered beneath her sandaled feet.


The room was empty, the window left slightly ajar; Maggie had run off. Michael's stomach lurched forward; he'd done this. He'd made Maggie so upset, she'd ran away. Then another disturbing thought came to him; Maggie didn't know Castle Rock well enough to not get into trouble. There was no choice in the matter, they had to go and look for her.


"Mike! Maggie!" Gordie placed his left foot on the first stair.

"Dad! Dad, she's gone, she's not here!" a visibly guilt-ridden Michael called from the hallway.


"Is it my fault?" Michael asked

"I don't think it's totally your fault Mike"

"well I'm sorry anyway."

"Don't tell me, tell Maggie" Michael couldn't look at his father. "We'll find her." Gordie consoled. The rain poured violently from a cloud above the two and they pressed out of their yard and into the heart of Castle Rock.


The rain beat down on Maggie's small body as she moved at a varying pace through the streets of Castle Rock. She wasn't sure where she was going, she just needed to escape; she had felt like the walls were closing in on her, leaving her no oxygen and no room to think, so she ran. She climbed out of the window onto the roof and used the tree limbs from the blossoming cherry tree as a ladder. She hurried away from the LaChance's home not wanting Gordie to find her missing. She ran until her entire body ached and her lungs could no longer hold her breath. What now?

With no cars in sight Maggie raced across another road, straight into a gaping pot hole filled with muddy rain water. The warm mud stuck to her jeans and her sweatshirt "shit!" she cried looking at the damage. "this is just perfect..." she rambled blinded by her anger.

"Swimming?" a voice asked. Maggie looked up to see the boy at the movie theater, Eric.

"Sure, in water that would probably give me some sort of disease and reaches my knees, who could resist?" she laughed quietly. She balanced on her heels and stood up.

"That sucks"

"yeah"

"if you weren't swimming, what the hell were you doing?"

"I don't know, I just needed to go for a walk"

"in a torrential downpour?"

"the weather doesn't scare me". She began walking again and Eric followed.

"Well, where are you going?"

"not sure" she said walking briskly away

"well will you at least tell me your name?"

"Maggie"

"Maggie, I'm--"

"Eric, I remember, you saved my butt at the movies a couple nights ago."

"That I did" his smile was big and bright.


Gordie and Michael had been looking for almost a half hour, and it was nearing dinner time. They had scoured every street and corner they could think of, with no luck. "Holy shit!" Gordie screamed as he and Michael dodged the rain drops.

"Dad, you don't need to hold my hand, I'm perfectly capable of going across a road"

"you almost got hit by a car on the last street!" Gordie reminded his unpleased son.

"It's not my fault the moron didn't stop"

"he did stop, you just didn't wait, now come on keep looking."


Eric spotted a man and his son looking for something or maybe someone. "Maggie?!" the man called. Eric recognized him as Mr. LaChance, the chief writer of the town's newspaper. Eric also knew Gordie from old photographs kept in a closet in what was now his room, this was Chris's best friend from forever ago.

"Uh, I think they're looking for you" No sooner did Eric utter the words, Eric turned to see Maggie had disappeared. "Great" Eric muttered.


Michael began to think deeply about what could have happened to Maggie by now. Where in the hell could she have gone? A pair of feet sloshed through the wet road to reach Gordie and Michael. "Um, I think I saw someone that belongs to you" Eric stated blatantly

"which way? "Gordie asked eagerly

"Down May Street, if you hurry you could probably catch her." "Thanks, Mike lets go!"


Across from the town hall is a large oak tree, planted there some years ago, legend had it, by two lovers who later carved their initials into the tree trunk on the one year anniversary of their wedding day. Maggie was stooped over feeling the wind and the decreasing temperature bite at her feet and nose. What if Gordie was worried about her, she didn't want him to think she was this irresponsible on a regular basis. She felt full of shame and guilt and wondered if she should start heading back, and explain it was all just a misunderstanding.


Gordie had stopped in front of his office building, asking himself where Michael and he should go to next. By this time they had been to "the view", exploring the rich and snobby parts of the town and had even been by where Chris had grown up. Maggie was no where they had looked. The LaChance men decided to look where Eric Chambers had suggested. Michael was the one who pointed out that they hadn't searched the main street of town. "I think that's her!" Michael shouted, he had spotted a small girl under the aged "lover's tree".


"Maggie!" Gordie yelled making his way towards the shivering girl. "What were you thinking?"

"I-I-I--"

"it doesn't matter, you had me worried!" Gordie grabbed her impulsively and hugged her lightly. "we can talk later" he said as they headed back to the house.


The house was a warm contrast compared to the unseasonably cold air outside. Maggie had changed out of the wet denim and cotton, and took a seat ready for Gordie's unavoidable lecture. Maggie sat at the kitchen table in warm flannel pajamas and slippers as Gordie prepared dinner. "I'm sorry I ran off, its just---"

"I know, I was a kid once too you know, a long, long time ago"

"but I am sorry, really."

"I know, and I'm pretty sure if you go and talk to Mike he'll make his apologies too."

Following Gordie's reluctant advice, she reached the top of the stairs and turned to face an open doorway. Maggie knocked on Michael's door as the boy stared up at the ceiling counting the cracks. "I'm surprised you're speaking to me" Michael said sadly.

"Well, I just came to say I'm sorry I made you guys worry and I understand how you feel; I'm invading your turf and its okay that you're pissed."

"I wasn't pissed"

"just admit it, you were pissed, its okay."

"Fine, I was upset" Michael said stressing his last word. Gordie sauntered in as the conversation ended

"Dinner's ready and lets just keep this between us, how does that sound?" They all nodded, sealing the pact.


As Gordie walked into his office at the daily he felt his ears ringing. "What are people saying David?" he asked his loyal intern.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"That's bullshit and you know it, come on out with it, either I find out from you or from Marilyn on the street corner, your choice." "Its about the girl that's staying with you."

Miss Hilary Cleveland said that Maggie was the love child from a match made in college between Gordie and Missy Budrealt (a professor at the college Gordie attended). Ronda Mackenzie believed Maggie was a teenage runaway who had gotten pregnant and was here to tell her beau of the "bun in the oven". But then there were the stories the men told. Ben Curtis thought that she'd probably made someone "swim with the fishes", robbed a bank or cashed fraudulent checks. None of the residents had any idea of what the real story was.


"Maybe she's running from someone she really fucked over" a tall, slender boy said when the teacher left the room to make copies. "Who?" Michael asked intrigued by the gossip that was being tossed around the room.

"Shut up LaChance" the boy venomously replied.

"I bet she's the one that got fucked and now she's in trouble, if you know what I mean" said another.

"Who?" Mike repeated

"mind your own damn business LaChance!"

"Who the hell are you guys talking about?" Michael demanded. "Maggie, the new girl in town" the tallest of the two said.

"She's not pregnant" he stated "and you goons are morons if you believe anything the ninnies in this town say" Mike added.

"Oh yeah?" the tallest questioned "well you better believe it when I say I'm gonna kick your sorry ass."

"Then why don't you just get it over with you stupid prick?" The tall boy took one quick swing and sent Michael spiraling to the floor.

Michael was sent to the nurse's office where she bandaged his bleeding eyebrow. "Was this over a girl?" she asked handing him a damp ice pack.

"Well, yeah, but its not what you think, these guys were spreading rumors about a girl that lives in my house."

"Your sister" she clarified, her mind swirling slightly."

"No..." Michael wasn't sure how to summarize Maggie's story in a few words "she's a friend of the family" he decided.

"Well that doesn't give you the right to pick a fight" she said shaking her head adamantly. "You should thank your lucky stars, you didn't get in to more trouble, you could have failed class, with summer so near."

"I know, don't remind me"

"What are you going to tell your parents," she wondered

"ran into a door."

"Will that work?"

"like a charm."

Michael returned home, praying that his father would either be away at work or too wrapped up in one of his stories to notice the blue-black bruise that was beginning to form on his face. He slid in the side door, but knocked right into Maggie in the process of trying to be sly. "Your dad's up--what the hell happened?" she gasped.

"Nothing, will you get me some ice?" he asked the pain he felt in his head reflecting in his voice.

"What happened?" Maggie repeated.

"I got into a fight with these jerks in my history class"

"over what?"

"Maggie, people are starting to talk"

"about me?" she said as if she already knew.

"Well yeah"

"so you punched him?"

"I didn't get the chance" Michael laughed halfheartedly.

"Your dad is going to flip out!" Maggie exclaimed.

"Will you "shh"!" he covered Maggie's mouth with a free hand.

"You know what this means, don't you?" Maggie placed a bundle of ice on Michael's swollen face.

"Ow! No what?"

"well you got beat up because you were defending me"

"and?" Michael didn't understand. Maggie didn't say anything as she flung her arms around Michael's neck. The embrace ended as quickly as it had occurred and the two stood rigid once again. "Maggie?" she nodded "how long will you stay?" She knew that he mean how long she would be with the LaChances' home.

"I wish I knew."