9

We finally stopped. It was getting late and the sky was starting to turn that bruised purple colour that it does on hot summer nights. It had been about twenty minutes since the train incident, but my cheeks were still tear-stained and my eyes were still puffy.

We set up camp, lighting a fire and rolling out our mats around it in a circle. I had mine about two feet away from Gordie, who was to my left, then on my right a few metres was Vern. I kept wiping my arm on my nose, still sniffling.

Gordie pulled out the hamburger meat he had bought at the Florida Market and we all stuck some on a stick. We were all sat around the fire cooking the meat.

Teddy laughed suddenly. "Man," he said, shaking his head. "That was the all time train-dodge. Too cool."

I looked at him, astonished.

"Vern," he continued, still smiling crazily. "You were so scared you looked like the fat guy in Abbot and Costello when he saw the mummy."

"I wasn't that scared," Vern said defensively.

"Then you wont mind if we check the seat of your jockeys for Hershey squirts then, will you?" Gordie said, receiving laughs all around.

"Eeeee-eeeeee, well, at least you weren't as scared as Khione," Teddy said, and I had a sudden urge to clip him in the jaw. "You weren't even in any danger and you were bawling your eyes out!" he laughed again and Gordie looked at me sideways, knowing what was coming.

"Don't fuckin' start with me, Duchamp," I said, lowly. "Don't you fuckin' start that shit. D'yah know why I was cryin'? Why I was bawlin' me eyes out like the pussy you think I am?"

He knitted his eyebrows, shaking his head.

"I was cryin' like that because Gordie is the only family I 'ave right now. Me parents are dead, me cousin's dead, me aunt and uncle 'ave kicked me out the house, and now Gordie is the only one left. And I almost lost him back there. I don't wanna lose him, because I don't have anyone else, do I?"

I just stared at me, dumbfounded, mouth hanging open. I stared right back at him, my jaw tight. He nodded, looking shocked.

"Your folks're dead?" Chris asked after a while. When I turned to look at him, I expected him to be as shocked and scared as Teddy. But his eyes were only sympathetic.

I nodded, ducking my head slightly. I wiped a run away tear from just under my eye and looked back up. "They were in a car crash about a week ago and they both died. So I came here, because they gave the custody to Gordie's parents. But then his mum threw a fit at me and kicked me out of their house," I shrugged. "So now I guess I'm homeless and in a country where I don't really know anyone and I can't lose Gordie. I just can't even think about that."

Gordie put his arm around me and I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Yeah, come on Teddy," he said. "Don't be a dick."

Teddy just nodded again.

There was a short, awkward silence.

"Hey Vern," Chris said, once again breaking the ice I had once again formed. "You might wanna turn yours over."

"No, this is how I like it!" Vern insisted earnestly.

Chris held up one of his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine."

Of course, with Vern's luck, the meat fell off his stick about three minutes after chris told him it would.

We all laughed, even me. I felt a little better.

"Oh, man Gordie, you got any more?" he said, frantically looking through the ashes of the fire to retrieve the meat.

"Sorry, Vern," he said, taking his arm from around me and covering his mouth as he laughed.

"Not funny guys, what'm I gonna eat?"

"You could cook your dick," Teddy said.

"Be a small meal," Chris contributed, and we all laughed again.

Vern shot him a look and then went back to the fire. His face lit up. "Haha," he said, lifting his stick up with his meat back on it. "Screw you guys, I got it!"

I felt a lot better after that. Gordie started to tell a story and it was about some fat kid and I don't really remember it because I started to drift in and out of sleep with my head on his shoulder. The day had been long and I was exhausted. I had bad jetlag, I'd lost my aunt and my uncle and my parents and almost Gordie and I just needed sleep.