"No. Guys, you're crazy, don't do this." Chris pleaded, with worry and fear extremely evident in his voice. I wanted to tell him that I had no intention of letting me or Teddie stay on the track long enough for the train to come near us. But if I did, then Teddie would know, and he'd kill me. Sincerely, I had no doubt about it. I grimaced inwardly when I caught myself using Vern's favorite word. "Get off the tracks! You wanna die?!" Chris almost never raised his voice, he was always so devoted to keeping the peace. "Sincerely, guys, don't be stupid..." Vern called weakly, then Gordie joined in, trying to convince me and Teddie to stop acting like morons. He seemed truly scared, and I instantly hated myself, making him think I was actually gonna try to dodge the freight train barreling toward us. I entwined my fingers in Teddie's, making him raise an eyebrow at me. I only shrugged, then planted my feet firmly apart, level with my shoulders. I stared straight ahead, focusing on estimating how far away that freight was. The rest of the boys started panicking, looking at the train, then at me and Teddie, then back at the incoming train. Chris especially. I suddenly felt bad for snapping at him earlier, I hadn't meant to take out my frustration on him... he was quite probably the best friend I ever had. Just as Golden Boy ran up to drag us off the incline, I shove Teddie as hard as I could - which was pretty hard, because running around the streets of the west side of Chicago is just about all the exercise you need. "Hey! What the hell! No, lemme go!" Together, we ripped Duchamp away just as the train flew past us, kicking and screaming. The both of them started yelling at each other while the long black blur flew by, causing a loud, deafening scream type sound. After it passed, I could hear Chris yelling at Teddie at the top of his lungs. "You wanna die?! Is that it?! You wanna kill yourself! You fucking tried to kill yourself!" Hearing him say that, sent me back to a few weeks ago, when he had confronted me.

"You fucking tried to kill yourself."

It only lasted a second, but I still heard it. "I don't need no babysitter." Four-Eyes whispered. His voice was dripping with venom, just daring anyone to touch him. "You do too." Chris countered, wheezing for breath, after screaming, he must have needed oxygen pretty bad. Turning to me, Teddie pointed at me with a sticky, sweaty finger. "You. You tricked me. I'll kill you." What have I done?... He lowered his voice even more, which is near impossible, it was already so quiet. Have I messed things up for good? This time, unlike any of the other times he had threatened me, his eyes... They held a kind of malicious evil, and I felt my body freeze and chills run all over. Right now, with that look, he triggered very unfavorable memories. The memories I had worked so hard to repress. He crouched down, like a cat, preparing to attack. I still stood motionless, unable to move. There wasn't enough time to move anyway, he sprung so fast, I was on the ground in less than half a second, blocking my face and ribs with my arms, in a defensive ball on the dry grass. A position I was way too familiar with. My reflexes hadn't failed me, protecting my sensitive body as I deflected the worst of his violent punches. He pummeled my body, putting bruises on my raised arms and my sides. Thankfully, I didn't have to suffer long. In a matter of seconds, his weight was gone, and I opened my eyes to see him and Chris swinging at each other. Chris was yelling at him, "What the fuck man, you'd hit a girl cause she helps save your life?! That's messed up! She was HELPING you!" "I don't need no help from anyone!" Their voices drifted away slowly. Or was I the one drifting? Either way, they faded until all I could hear or see was darkness. Then the dark gave way to a scene I thought I would never have to live through again.

"On the bed. Now." He ordered me as soon as I walked into his living shabby living room. "Um, ok, but what about my schoolbooks? We didn't even look at them last time..." She was a small girl, probably only 6 years old. He was a tall, buff man in his early thirties. "We'll get to those later. Just get on the bed. And take your clothes off." She started shaking, but did what he said. She remembered her dear mother telling her to always do what he said, and he wouldn't hurt her...

That awful, awful time faded back into nothing, and I was greeted with black again. This time, I welcomed it, and prayed to God that I wouldn't have to see another hallucination. "Raven?... Guys, she don't look too good..." Vern's voice penetrated the void I was in, but it was still faint, and I wondered if I had even really heard it. "Yeah Vern, good going. Raven... Wake up... Fluffy, c'mon, please, wake up..." Fluffy... Dennys nickname for me... I haven't heard that in awhile...I felt a slight shaking to go along with my cousins pleading, then yet another voice came along. "Raven... Raven, I didn't mean too... If you don't wake up, I'll... I'll personally kill you! Wake up..." I could feel myself smirk at Teddie's empty threat. Then, a voice I was all too glad to hear, almost broke my heart. "Oh God, uh, guys... I think... Fuck... Raven. Raven Wake up... Please? If you don't... What'll the rest of us do, huh? Just pretend you never existed?" Then he lowered his voice and whispered in my ear, "You have no idea what you mean to me... Don't leave me hanging... Please..." Hearing the desperate, passionate emotion, and feeling his breath on my ear and neck, the fuzzy, warm emptiness was drawn back, and my eyes fluttered open. "Ugh... Where's my bed?... Fuck, Teddie, I'm not calling you that anymore, your new name is Slugger, whether you like it or not." There was a spontaneous sigh of relief, and Gordie and Chris helped my up, seeing as they were the closest to me. In both physical and emotional proximity. "Now that we know you're not dying, why did you do that?" Right on Chris, straight to the point. As always. "Hey, I thought it all out. Teddie - I mean, Slugger - would refuse to get his ass off the tracks, and you would go up to do it yourself, so... I decided to help out, and push him off at the appropriate time. There's nothing all that wrong about it, except that Slugger Duchamp tryed to kill me. And that's only because he's crazy." Everyone stared at me incredulously. "From my observations, you are most likely more crazy than the pile of shit with a thousand eyes." Chris tryed to keep a straight face while he said it, bit failed and had to take a break to catch his breath. Gordie was also trying not to laugh. "But whatever, lets just keep going, ok? It all good, right? No more death wishes, or insane trickery?" I snorted at him, he rarely used full English, and when he did, it was to mock the douchebags up on the View. "Yeah, fine." Me and Teddie answered at the same time. "Yo, skin it. I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sorry." Me and Four Eyes had hung back, while the rest of the gang walked ahead, and now he was being apologetic for once. But what shocked me the most was his offer. No one in our group had told me to "skin it" before. It was their thing, and I was fine with not being a part of it, because they had been doing that since they were little. I had just got here in August of last year, and Gordie hadn't introduced me to them until just this summer. Who was I to intrude on their traditions? "Uh, yeah... Ok. That's fine..." He still held his hand out, palm up, so I gave in and slid my own palm against his. His face lit up, then he ran off, to catch up with Vern, no doubt.

Chris:

Teddie had told me he wanted to patch things up with Raven, to make sure she didn't hate him for life. I told him she probably wouldn't, she barely held grudges. He still insisted, and I told him fine. I don't even get why he felt he had to ask me first. Then when I heard him ask her to do our handshake - of sorts - I figured it out. I was glad he liked her enough to want her a part of the gang, permanently. When she passed out, man, it scared the shit outta me... We slowed as we made it to a trellis, crossing the river. It was over a hundred feet high, and the planks were about a foot apart.

How did we get here so fast?...

Hello! So, my ego is back to its monstrous size, and I got back to work! I have a huge pride problem, so when someone insults me, it takes ALOT of self control to not kill them. But whatever... this chapter actually took me a few days to write, so...

El, you are right, it's not fitting for her to try a train dodge, but it IS fitting for her to PRETEND to dodge a train. She is a lot like me, cause I would do that... lol.

What do you think is gonna happen now that they're crossing this giant bridge thingy?

Hint: is things aren't full of action, I get bored.

Oh, and I just realized that I messed up this whole timeline. So, Imma explain it.

IMPORTANT

August 19 - Raven arrives.

School starts.

Raven runs into Vern, helps him make his map.

School makes Raven impossibly busy, not only because she's the "New Girl" but also because the school is a lot less caring about the children in Chicago, where she's used to it. Becuase of this, she only knows the other two boys (Teddie and Chris) because she notices them in the halls and the rumors going around about both of them.

School ends, Raven finally settles herself, and because of stupid school, she still has thing to unpack. Gordie takes her to formally meet his friends.

They sort of accept her, but don't really like her much at first.

Raven beats up one of the biggest bullies in the school, and the boys realize she's no typical girl.(flash backs will come about this)

The five spend most of their time in the tree house, until summer gets full swing.

June. Raven tells her history to Chris.

Early September. They set out to find Ray Brower.

So, yeah... Thas how I'm picturing it...

Toodles,

~ A.

P.S. Sorry for any mistakes or misspellings, I usually write this on my phone, and the keyboard is small... I try to filter through all the bugs, but even when I think I got them all, some still show up after I post it... Super frustrating...

Bye!