A/N: Again guys, thanks for all of the encouragement. Sorry if this chapter sucks, as it's mainly dialogue without a lot of explanation. Also, for all of the Gordie and Vern fans who read this, they'll have some stuff in the next chapter, I swear. Especially Gordo. But enjoy!

Disclaimer: not mine except for the story part. The whole whip thing and the "they call me" thing are from Rent. And two chapters ago the whole "they say that I have the best ass in Castle Rock" thing was from Rent as well, and in the second chapter, I have Breakfast Club references. So yeah.

Chris decided to cut the last twenty minutes of his 7th period early. Luckily it was study hall, so he wasn't missing any of his college course work. Somehow the teacher believed him when he asked to go to the bathroom, and he slipped out of the classroom door and headed straight towards the doors of the main building, having all of his books he'd need for the night. Chris pushed open the main heavy doors and strode out of the building. But as soon as he saw who was sitting on the steps, staring into space, he plopped himself down next to her.

"Nat-uh-lee," Chris pronounced in a sing song voice, "What's going on?"

"Hmm….not much," Natalie answered, "Just wondering how in the world someone becomes a priest or a nun."

"A priest or a nun?" Chris asked, laughing, "Are you interested in taking part of the Sisterhood or whatever it's called?"

"Shit yeah!" Natalie exclaimed excitedly, flapping her arms, "Why don't you become a priest? Then both of us will not have sex and watch other people do it! And then I don't know what happens."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Give up sex? You're…you're joking, right? These people don't actually not have sex, do they?"

"No sex!" Nats answered, smirking.

"Screw it then," Chris scoffed.

"No, that's the whole point, not to screw," Natalie corrected.

"Nats, I mean screw the plan to join the priesthood,"

"Because of no screwing?"

"Exactly."

"You screw?"

"Of course. On a regular, nightly basis."

"Aha!" Natalie cried, pointing straight at Chris with a shaking finger, "….That's why you always spend the night at Gordie's house!"

Chris snickered. "Nah. I just stay over there because of the bastard who lives in my house."

Natalie's giggly expression immediately turned sour. "Oh…"

"Yeah."

"Chris, why don't you just move out?" Natalie asked, but it sounded more like a statement.

"I can't," Chris answered despairingly, "I want to, but I can't leave them. I can't leave Debbie and Emery and Sheldon…."

"What about your mom?" Natalie questioned, curious.

"I don't know," Chris shrugged, "Sometimes she really does seem to care, but other times, she just….doesn't. She goes away a lot, especially when she knows my old man is gonna be drinking. Yeah…" Chris trailed off, an almost reminiscent expression taking over his face, his ocean-colored eyes staring ahead, "My mom always knows when it's one of my old man's drinking days. I don't know how, and I wish I did…."

"Is that where that shiner's from?" Natalie gestured towards Chris's right eye.

"Nah. That's from the football team," Chris responded nonchalantly.

"The football team? Holy shit," his friend swore violently, shaking her head, "They have it coming to them, those fucks….why'd they pound on….ohh, right. Your rich, popular, stunning girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend," Chris immediately defended, "And now, she's not so popular."

"Oh, so you're not denying that she's pretty?" Natalie asked, a smirk on her face.

"Why should I lie?" Chris replied with an identical grin, "But you know, she's not too bad."

Natalie huffed. "What changes your mind all of a sudden? One minute she's the worst thing in the world, and the next, she's your dream girl?"

"I didn't say she was my dream girl, Nats," Chris pointed out, tensing up immensely, "And what changes my mind all of sudden is her behavior towards me. If you had seen her today….you'd understand. But my mind isn't really changed, it's just….persuaded a bit…shit, Nats, I don't know."

He held his arms out and shook his head. After what Jenna had done for him during lunch, he was now really unsure. She stood up for him. In public. And that's what a friend does. So how could she really be out to get him if she had already done all of this just for him?

Natalie eyed him with one light green eye. This boy needed to get out of "I don't know" land. She sighed, and turned her auburn head towards the lawn stretched out in front of them. And she saw him.

"Chris."

"Yes?"

"Have you ever heard of Hudson Scott?" Natalie asked distractedly, staring at the boy.

"Yeah," Chris responded dully, "He's some kind of drug dealer or something. Hangs around with—"

"Fuck man, that was a goddamn close one!" a voice shouted from behind Natalie and Chris, clearly talking to the Hudson, who was making his way near them.

"Hello Teddy," Chris greeted unenthusiastically.

"Chambers! What's shakin'? Got that Malone bitch under control now? Got a leash on her?" Teddy joked with a large smirk on his face, "I suggest a whip. That'll keep her under your command…"

He made a whip like sound and made his hand move with the motions of one.

"Ehehehee!" Teddy cackled, "Man, you better have under control or then you're the pussy in that relationship!"

Natalie's eyes widened alarmingly as Teddy's laugh again escaped his mouth. Oh my god, this guy's a moron!

"Theodore, cut the crap, would you?" a low, silky voice interrupted, "Laugh your ass off when you have the time for it. And when I'm not around."

Natalie smiled. That was more like it.

Teddy grumbled, "Whatever, asshole."

Chris, meanwhile, stared up at the owner of the voice critically. "Why doesn't he have the time to laugh? Where are you going?"

"Do I even know you?" Hudson Scott scoffed.

"You don't know him," Natalie stepped in and stood up, "But you should know me. They call me Natalie. Natalie Crandall, to be specific."

Hudson gazed at Nats briefly with his midnight blue eyes, studying her face and taking in her body. After a few moments, he smiled. Apparently she must have passed the test. "I'm Hudson. And I'm surprised I haven't seen you around before…I would have remembered at least catching a glimpse of you."

Teddy snorted loudly.

Hudson gave Teddy a piercing look which he ignored, but then went back to Nats, who was blushing profusely.

"Thanks," Natalie responded, putting seduction into her usually quirky voice, "But I've caught a glimpse of you before…and god, do I remember it well."

"Why thanks babe. Why don't you and I get out of here—"

Chris stood up suddenly, his fists clenched and his jaw set. Natalie didn't even know this guy….what the hell was she doing? What the hell was he doing messing around with her? He sounded a lot like a drugged up Ace Merrill. But even if he wasn't, he wasn't even going to let Natalie and Hudson alone for a fleeting second. And not only did he care about Natalie, but what about Gordie?

"Over my dead body," Chris seethed.

"Try me," Hudson drawled menacingly, yet taking a hold of Natalie's arm gently.

"Don't think I wouldn't," Chris responded viciously.

With her free arm, Nats gave her friend a small whack on the side. "Leave me be. Leave us be. Look Chris, I'm a big girl, in case you haven't realized. We're friends, not siblings, not a couple, we're friends. And friends let things be. So just do that, ok?"

And with that, Natalie led Hudson away, who was smirking a mile a minute.

Chris stood in surprised silence. She had never minded when he and Gordie had to stand up to other guys about her before….he was only concerned about her….he just didn't want her to get hurt. And if she was going to be chumming around with this guy, he knew that she would.

"Hey, hey—HEY!" Teddy shouted angrily after the two were strolling away arm in arm, "WHAT ABOUT ME AND YOU AND ANTHONY GETTING HI—"

Chambers was staring at him.

"Yes Chambers, I know I'm gorgeous, but you don't have to stare at me every five seconds like I'm in some goddamn pin-up calendar," Teddy lectured, trying to cover up his slip, "Jesus, what's with the world lately?"

"I could ask the same question," Chris mumbled.

"Yeah, well, who fucking cares? God, I could use a goddamn smoke…"

Teddy reached into the breast pocket of his t-shirt and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He eagerly grabbed one out of the pack and gazed at it.

"SHIT! Chambers, you got a fucking light?"

"Yeah," Chris replied, amused, tossing his ex-friend the lighter.

Teddy lit his cigarette, threw the lighter back to Chris, and inhaled deeply.

"God," Teddy sighed, smoke coming out of his mouth as he did so, "Smokes can just solve everything, can't they?"

"I thought your coke solved everything," Chris told him knowingly.

Teddy glared at Chris. "And it would be none of your fucking business if it did, would it?"

Chris huffed and jogged down the rest of the stairs. "You know, whatever Teddy. Just watch out for yourself and trust the right people, ok man?"

Teddy eyed him suspiciously as he trudged off. Gosh, that kid had to be the weirdest person ever.

Jenna dragged herself along the sidewalk after school let out, sighing every ten seconds. This had to be the worst school day she ever had. Nobody liked her anymore. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she knew that people were going to disapprove and be awful towards her. But what she had no idea about and what shocked her was how awful they were to her. People rammed into her, knocked her books out of her hands, just sent her death glares, and one of her ex-friends even tried to put gum in her long, beautiful blonde hair.

She didn't get it. She didn't understand it at all. People were treating her like this, like she was the ground they strutted all over. And the severe, harsh fact of it all was that she was being treated like this because of the person she just started to hang out with. Because of that person's reputation, she suffered from all of this.

But it wasn't only she who had suffered today, she remembered. He had suffered too. But then she realized: he didn't just suffer from this today; he's been suffering this every day of his life.

Jenna swallowed a nervous lump in her throat. Could she possibly feel…guilty for treating him like that? No, no, she couldn't, he had deserved that treatment, unlike her. But at that moment she became conscious of the fact that Chris Chambers hadn't done anything to anybody.

Shit. She caught herself in a trap.

"Jenna?"

Double shit.

"Hey Chris," Jenna greeted half-heartedly.

Chris fell into rhythm with her and gazed at her. "You ok?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

Did she actually think that he couldn't see through that? He chose to not pick at it though, not knowing what would happen.

"Well umm, I can't….I just wanted to say….I never got to tell you….thanks," Chris finally stumbled out awkwardly, "For what you did for me, back at school."

Hell this was awkward. Chris never thought he'd be thanking the Queen Bee of the school for helping him out, and neither did she.

"Your welcome," Jenna replied just as uneasily, "You just looked like you were in some trouble so…."

"Well….it actually proves to me you might be serious about this whole thing," Chris told her.

"I may not have acted like it in the past, but I really do have a heart," Jenna confessed helplessly, crossing her arms.

Chris paused, mulling over his choice of words. He finally settled on: "Everyone has a heart. Some just put it out there more than others."

Jenna turned to look at him, surprise etched onto her face. When she looked back on it, it was one of the truest things she had ever heard before.

"Wow," she breathed.

"Yeah," Chris said with a shrug.

"You're deep."

"Really?" Chris snickered, "Is it actually possible, for me, Christopher Chambers, to be deep?"

Jenna gave him an evident look of pain. "Please don't do that to me, that's not fair."

"After everything I've been through, and one little comment isn't fair?" Chris asked incredulously, seeing the hurt on her face and suddenly feeling like a jerk. "I was just playing, honest. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

He couldn't hear her, but she murmured in response, "I never meant to hurt yours either."

After not hearing a reply, he tried again, "Really, I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Jenna shrugged it off.

They walked about ten feet in silence.

"What are you doing on this lovely Friday night?" Chris stroke up a random conversation, not really caring what she was doing tonight at all.

"Not much. I usually have plans," Jenna responded, a mischievous glint in her emerald eyes, "But thanks to you, I don't anymore."

Chris closed his eyes and covered his heart with his palm. "Oh the heartache! Oh the agony! Oh the shame!"

Jenna smirked at him. "I don't think you'd make a good actor."

"No?" Chris questioned in mock-surprise, "Ugh, more agony!"

"You're killing me, seriously," Jenna responded calmly.

"Aren't you a nice one?"

"Um ch-yeah."

"Ugh, whatever."

"Whatever to you too, buddy."

"Yeah well—"

"Do you want to come over to my house?" Jenna blurted out and then immediately her hands snaked their way towards her mouth.

Meanwhile, Chris' hands slipped into his jean pockets, a habit of his whenever anything nerve-wracking was going on. And damn, was this nerve-wracking. What could he say to her? In all honesty, he wanted to go. He wanted to go and spend time with her where they wouldn't be disturbed at all so they could just talk and be themselves. They wouldn't have to worry about the pressure around them. Since today, he trusted her more now. But would the mayor's house really be a good place?

"Jenna, this is the house your family lives in. Won't I be unwelcome and shooed out even before I got in?" Chris asked uncertainly.

"No. No one will even notice you're there. Even I'm barely noted when I come home from school, so they definitely won't see you. Come on, please?"

She didn't know why, but for some reason, she really wanted him to go.

Chris sighed, running a hand through his dirty blonde hair, "I know this is going to end up being some huge mess that I'm going to end up regretting getting myself into, but alright."

He patted her arm. And there were the butterflies. He took his hands off of her arm. And the butterflies were gone.

He sat on the dewy grass, picking off the petals to flowers. Yuck. He hated flowers. They were too...blah. They were bland and stupid. What was the point to them anyway? They were just there and did nothing for the world, from what he knew. Just like mosquitoes. Flowers were just like mosquitoes.

Suddenly, he heard it. A sob. He turned around swiftly and saw a girl who looked around his age sitting about twenty feet away. Whoa, and a gorgeous girl at that! He instantly became curious about why such a sexy girl like her would be crying her eyes out. Investigation time!

"Hey," he greeted loudly, making sure that he was heard over her sobs.

"Go away," the girl immediately ordered icily, not even looking up at him.

"That's not nice. You don't like company? You one of those recluses or something?"

"I said go away!"

"Hmm. Guess so."

He plopped down next to her while she continued her crying. He stretched his legs out and steadied himself with his hands.

"Well, I'm Teddy. But everyone calls me...uh, Teddy. But you, my special friend, can call me anything you want. Teddy, Theodore, Sexy Beast, whatever your little heart desires."

The girl lifted her head and stared at him, her hazel eyes still filled with tears glaring daggers, while a ghost of a smile was on her face. "Well, my little heart desires for you to shut up and leave me alone, ok?"

"Jesus, what's with all the negative energy you're sending out?" he asked curiously, "You know, it almost sounds as if you don't want me around. But that's impossible. Because everyone wants me around."

"Then why are you alone right now?" the girl questioned, her head turned to one side to look at him.

"Ah, my mom kicked me out of the house for a little while."

"What'd you do?"

He shrugged. "Cursed her out. I was really making up an excuse. I hid a letter from her, but she got suspicious. But it was for her own good. She'd be on her death bed if she had read it."

"What did it say?" she asked, almost hungrily awaiting the answer.

He paused before saying emotionlessly, "My dad died."

Her eyes widened and she suddenly felt extremely guilty. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugged again. "It's not that big of a deal. I haven't seen the fucker since I was fourteen. But...why were you crying?"

"My dad."

"What happened? He croaked too?"

"No," she replied with a short laugh, "No, he left me. He left me alone with my mom."

"Ah, you have a Saint for an old man then, huh?"

"Not anymore. He only left a telephone number and a note saying 'I love you, my baby girl'."

She couldn't help but let a few more tears slip down her face.

"Hey, hey, don't cry, it'll be alright," he soothed, wiping away her tears with his thumb and index finger. Her skin felt so smooth and creamy...

"Thank you," she responded, taking a hold of his hand and studying it, "You have nice hands."

He smirked. "That's what they all say. But thanks."

She giggled, "Who's 'they'? Your girlfriends?"

"Don't have a girlfriend," he answered, smiling goofily at her, "Not yet at least."

"That shocks me," she replied, "You're too cute to not have a girlfriend."

"You think so? Tell that to the rest of the female Castle Rock community, Miss...?"

"Serena," she responded with a bright smile, "But don't call me Miss."

"Deal, Serena," he told her, an identical smile on his face. He already loved the way her name rolled off his tongue.