So this is probably one of the last chapters. Maybe second to last? I don't know; I'm so tired that the words keep moving around on my computer screen.

Warnings: None? I think? Maybe, like, one curse word. Possibly.

Disclaimer: I don't own Stand By Me, The Body, or the characters.

Reviews: Are welcome, but not demanded.

Thank You: to all previous reviewers. I kind of suck at replying to things. Like, a whole lot. Just like I suck at updating my stories at a reasonable pace. I procrastinate like there's five billion tomorrows.

I'm sorry this took a while (although three months isn't that bad. My other story has been sitting without an update for five months... gotta get on that. Eventually).

Right.

Maybe Teddy's impulsive behavior rubbed off on him, or maybe Chris was just losing his mind all by himself. But either way, Chris was running on a jolt of energy, and had quite possibly the stupidest plan he had ever come up with.

Walking confidently back into the dance, Chris swept around the crowd, sticking to the outskirts so that neither Teddy nor Gordie, who were both near the middle of the students, would notice him. He snuck onto the small stage area, where a small time band was taking a break while a record player kept the tunes going. The school's principal, an older man who seriously needed to consider retiring, confronted him as he approached the stage.

"Chambers, where are you going?" he asked loudly, standing directly between Chris and the small set of stairs that led up to where he needed to go.

"Oh… uh… hi, sir. I'm, um, I need…" He trailed off, glancing off to the side anxiously. He caught sight of Gordie and his date off to the far left, and his stomach sank when he saw that they were getting awfully close. By the next slow song, he'd bet Gordie and his girl would be swapping spit. Chris looked back to the principal, who was still standing there, waiting for an answer.

"Chambers…" the principal warned.

Chris was trying to think of a good excuse to get on stage, but after one more glimpse at his best friend, the poor boy decided to just explain everything. But as soon as he opened his mouth, he lost all words for how to describe his past few months. After a few moments of opening and closing his mouth pointlessly, he simply looked up at his principal helplessly.

"I'm completely, hopelessly, unbelievably in love with someone, and I have to win them back."

The principal stared at him blankly. He seemed to be frozen for a few minutes, until he finally sighed and looked away. "You kids and your melodramatic antics," he muttered. "Fine, go. But if you say anything inappropriate or different from what your 'goal' is, I will have you in summer school for your entire vacation." He eyed Chris again, sighing lightly before walking off, leaving Chris free to access the stage.

Chris kind of just stared at the empty stage for a few moments, only coming back to reality when one of the relaxing band members cleared his throat loudly. The saxophone player was sending him a pointed look, and gestured a long-fingered hand towards the lone microphone on the stage. Chris nodded, slowly making his way up the stairs. He shakily walked up to the microphone, tapping experimentally at it to see if it was on. A dull thunking noise echoed throughout the room, and Chris stepped aside to turn the record player off. Most people stopped dancing and stared up at the stage, curious as to why their source of music stopped.

"Um, hi everyone," Chris began bravely, scanning the shaded crowd. "How are we all doing tonight?" The only response he got were mutters and loud questions regarding what happened to the music. His fellow students quickly went from confused to irritated and glaring at him impatiently. "Right. I, uh, came up here tonight because… um… I…" His gaze darted around, coming to an immediate halt and backtracking itself a bit until it landed on the one person he came to speak to. Gordie was staring right at him, eyes wide and date forgotten as he looked at the young Chambers boy blankly. Chris sighed heavily. "Listen, I know you guys want your music back, so just hear me out for a second."

"You go, Chambers!" Teddy screeched from somewhere near the center of the crowd, and Chris only grinned for a second before getting serious again.

"Thanks. Um…" He trailed off uneasily. There was an awkward silence, but finally he took a deep breath and went straight for the plunge. "I messed up with someone. Real, real bad. This someone was my best friend, and meant the world to me, and then things got complicated between us. Most of that was my fault." He looked at different random people in the crowd, avoiding Gordie's burning stare. "Okay, maybe all of it was. And ever since things got messed up, I've been ruining this person's life so much, and I wish I hadn't done any of it. Some of it was because I was blackmailed," he paused when a dramatic gasp ran throughout the crowd, "but most of it was simply my fault. I broke this person's heart and destroyed our friendship. And even though I know I don't deserve forgiveness, or even just a second chance…" Chris finally peered over to Gordie, maintaining perfect eye contact with him for the next part. "I just need this person to know that I am so unbelievably sorry for everything I've done to them, and that I'm not okay without them in my life. I… I'm in love with them."

It was dead quiet for at least a minute after Chris finished his little speech, before Teddy took the initiative and started clapping. Within seconds, the entire room was filled with applause, cheers, whistles, and someone even threw their undergarments at the trembling Chambers kid.

Slowly, because his legs felt numb and he felt so nauseous and dizzy that he might've collapsed had he gone faster, Chris made his way off of the stage, and out the entrance door. He ignored the several claps on the back, and the occasional 'go get her, man!' that random classmates threw out at him as he passed. He didn't once look back to see Gordie's reaction, and he completely ignored Teddy when the boy tried to praise him.

In fact, Chris didn't actually breathe until he was outside, slumped against the same brick wall he had been near earlier. He sat there for what felt like hours, although judging by how light out it still was by the time he finally stood to leave, it probably had been only twenty minutes.

He brushed his pants off, only slightly regretting sitting on the ground in his best trousers. His mother would kill him if there were any grass stains, but there weren't any that he could see. He tried to inspect his backside, but wasn't flexible enough to see it fully and ended up doing awkward spins while craning his neck over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?"

Chris stopped spinning and trying to look at his own butt and looked up. He nearly threw up from nerves when he saw that Gordie was standing before him, tears only half-dry on his cheeks and eyes wide as he took in the image of Chris.

Chris opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out was a small, broken noise. Gordie took in a wobbly breath, swatted away his tear streaks with the back of his hand, and stepped forward.

"Did you mean what you said?"

"I…" Chris closed his eyes and sank against the wall again, sliding back down to sit on the grass. "Yeah."

There was a short silence. "Why did you say that stuff on the phone?"

"Eyeball made me." Chris peeked open an eye when he got no response after several moments. Gordie was looking at him with slight disbelief, waiting for him to explain. "He found something and threatened to show it to Ace. He blackmailed me into calling you and… and…"

"He made you say those things to me?" Chris nodded. "How did he know about… us?" Chris hesitated, but lifted himself from the ground slightly, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out a folded picture. He silently handed it to Gordie, who took it cautiously and watched him like a hawk while unfolding it. Once it was flattened, the brunette glanced down at it, but wound up gaping like a fish. Chris forced his eyes to stay open, needing to know every reaction Gordie showed.

"He found it in my room," Chris whispered. "He was going to have me call you anyway, probably to break off our friendship or something. But I kinda begged him to leave you out of it, to not make me hurt you, and…" Chris didn't need to finish the statement for Gordie to understand that Eyeball had put two and two together. "It was either call you and hurt you, or have Ace and the Cobras see the picture and hunt us down for the rest of our lives."

"It wasn't all Eyeball."

"What?"

"When you said those things… at first I thought something was up, because it didn't sound like you really meant it. But then you just… you sounded so serious and so angry. That's the part that hurt. Because it did sound like you, and even if Eyeball was next to you cheering you on, that part wasn't him. It was you, Chris, and it hurt more than anything ever before."

Chris didn't know what to say. He had felt like a worthless piece of crap after the last thing he said to Gordie on the phone. And Gordie was right; that part wasn't part of Eyeball's script. Chris spat that out all on his own, and the skinny brunette could tell that the fury behind the words was real.

"But what you did tonight… that took a lot of guts, Chambers. You do realize that half of the school figured out who you were talking about, right?"

Chris's head jerked up. "What? They couldn't have! I didn't say your name, and I didn't even use 'he'!"

"You said that the person you screwed up with is your best friend. Everyone knows that's me," Gordie pointed out, crossing his arms. Chris winced.

"Are you?" The following silence was heart breaking.

Gordie finally shifted, moving to sit next to Chris against the building. "Back there, when you were on the stage… the last thing you said…" Gordie looked away, but Chris could see that the tips of his ears were flushed. He thought back to his speech, which was completely off the top of his head and sort of a blur at this point, but he specifically remembered the part where he looked at Gordie and said the final line.

"I said that… I was sorry for everything I've done to you, and that I want you in my life," he muttered. He couldn't bring himself to add the last part, although he knew that it was the left out line Gordie had been referring to.

"Yeah but after that… you said… um…"

Chris turned his face away, shutting his eyes briefly and gripping the knees of his pants tightly. "Then there was the part about… um… love," he scratched out, looking at the highly interesting blades of grass four feet away. Gordie didn't say anything for a minute, but then Chris felt a hand grip his jaw lightly and turn his face towards the other boy. Gordie was leaning close to him, looking directly at his nose.

"It wasn't just about love. You said… you're in love. With me." He still wouldn't look into Chris's eyes, but the lighter haired boy couldn't say he minded at the moment.

"Oh. Yeah."

"Did you mean that part?" Chris's head felt really warm as he realized that Gordie's gaze had flicked from his nose to his mouth. He felt like the earth was spinning, and the fact that their faces were mere inches away was not helping whatsoever. Chris looked into Gordie's eyes, although he, for the life of him, could not tell what the brunette was thinking by staring at him. His trance was broken when Gordie's fingers squeezed his chin a little, reminding him that he had a very important question to answer.

He only got out a half of a nod before Gordie pulled his face closer and kissed him.