"Hey! We're back here with the Bossman, Bob Cormier! From the racks and stacks, it's the best on wax! It's the Chordettes, with Lollipop!" Bob Cormier shouted from the radio, and "Lollipop" came on. Up ahead of us, Teddy and Vern started to dance to it (sorta) and I could hear Chris and Gordie arguing behind us.
"I wish Chris would walk with me," Maddie moaned and I rolled my eyes.
"This trip was about his friends. You were the one that wanted to tag along. He's not gonna go out of his way to entertain you every second of the day," I said.
"Why don't you like me?" Maddie asked, suddenly.
"You're annoying." You could call me a lot of things, but I wasn't a liar.
"Oh." She seemed depressed, but then suddenly she perked right up again. "I just loooove Chris. I hope I never see him cry like Teddy did. He's all man." I balled my hand into a fist and had to count to 10 seven times to keep from punching her in the face.
"Then go talk to him and leave me alone!" I snapped, and walked faster to get away from her. I quickly caught up to Teddy and Vern, who had stopped.
"Come on, you guys! Let's get moving," Vern yelled.
"Yeah! By the time we get there, the kid won't even be dead anymore!" Teddy shouted and Chris, Gordie, and Maddie walked faster.
***
"I hate Maddie, I hate her so much!" I moaned to Teddy and Vern as we walked together, the other three lagging behind (again).
"What did she do this time?" Teddy asked.
"Nothing important," I lied, and continued complaining. "but I wish she would just move back to SlutVile and get the hell out of my life." Teddy and Vern snickered, and I couldn't help but laugh along with them.
We approached a long railroad stretching across the river, and all six of us just stared.
"Any of you guys know when the nest train is due?" Vern asked.
"We could go down to the Route 136 Bridge," Chris suggested.
"What? Are you crazy? That's five miles down the river. You walk five miles down the river, you gotta walk five miles back. That could take 'til dawn. If we go across here, we can get to the same place in ten minutes," Teddy protested.
"Yeah, but if a train coms, there's nowhere to go," Vern argued.
"The hell there isn't. We'll just jump."
"Teddy, it's a hundred feet," Chris said.
"Yeah, it's too dangerous," Maddie agreed.
"Look. I'm crossing here. And while you guys are dragging your candy asses halfway across the state and back, I'll be waiting for you on the other side, relaxing with my thoughts," Teddy said and started forward.
"Oh yeah, you use your left hand or your right hand for that?" Gordie asked and Teddy looked back to smirk at him.
"You. Wish."
I followed Teddy out onto the tracks, followed by Chris, then Maddie, then Vern and Gordie.
We were all silent, just concentrating on putting your foot on the next plank, praying for it to not snap from underneath you.
"Hold on, you guy," Maddie said and we all looked back to see Vern with his head between the cracks, looking down at the water.
"What the hell is he doing?" I asked.
"I think he lost the comb," Maddie said and we all rolled our eyes and kept walking.
Right, left, right, left, right, le-"TRAIN!" All five of us whipped around to look at Gordie. And sure enough, there was a train heading towards us at full speed.
Maddie let out a bloodcurdling scream and Chris grabbed her hand.
"GO! RUN!" he screamed at us and Teddy and I hauled ass.
I ran faster than I had ever run before and just as I thought we would make it, I heard a splintering crack and I plunged downward.
One of the planks beneath me had snapped, and my foot had plunged through. Chris and Maddie tripped over me, and I screamed and covered my head.
"Teddy! Help me!" I yelped, and he reached out his hand. I took it and he yanked me to my feet while Chris and Maddie scrambled to theirs. Teddy dragged me by the hand off the tracks and to the side of the road, and Chris did the same for Maddie.
"RUN!" we screamed at Gordie and Vern, who were still running along the tracks.
"RUN! GO! YOU'D BETTER HAUL ASS, MAN!" I shrieked, and Gordie grabbed Vern and they leaped off to the side of the road, just as the train went roaring by I gulped.
If they had waited a few more seconds, the train would have run their asses over.
We raced across the tracks to look down on them after the train went by.
"Hey. At least now we know when the next train was due," Chris said.