Author's Note: I know this is pretty quick for an update, but there have been a lot of complaints about Teddy supposedly being the rapist in Lou's nightmare in the previous chapter. YES YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!! So anyways, I just wanted to thank all of you who commented on my story so far, so give yourslves a pat on the back! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

-Becky

Late March, 1959.

Lou only had the dream once, but it was basically enough to scare her plain shitless. It raised several questions in her head, but as she answered one, it raised so many others.

"Is Teddy really a rapist?" she thought to herself during English class. Looking down at her paper, her eyes nearly popped out of her head; she had scrawled down her thoughts in big, bold letters on the blue lines.

"Oh shit," she muttered to herself before realizing that she could start anew her response on a different sheet of paper. So she tore it into several small pieces and hurled them into the trash can.

Suddenly a ruler slammed onto Lou's desk. She looked up. Mrs. Simons was staring sternly down at her, making the hairs stand up on Lou's back: she never liked this teacher; she was nearly always giving off bad vibes.

"Do not use that kind of language in my classroom, Louise."

At the sound of her real name being used, Lou felt as if she could have killed old lady Simons just for that. But she just nodded and resumed her answer on another sheet of paper.

"Yes, ma'am." Lou hated her, but she wasn't the only one ever since Sam came barging into Debbie's basement.

Earlier in 1958.

"Guys!" Sam could have tumbled down the stairs; she was running so fast.

"Sammy, what's going on? What's the matter?" Lou asked with a tone of anxiety.

Sam sunk onto a couch, catching her breath.

"Chris was the one who stole milk money-"

"-Aha; I knew it was him!"

"Shut up Debbie, you don't know even half of the story!" Sam looked furious at Debbie's sudden interjection.

"He took it, but he tried to give it back!"

"He did?" Jimmie sat up, obviously interested.

"Yeah, he did, but," Sam's voice got choked up and she looked like she was about to cry, "I saw Mrs. Simons coming out of the tailor's with a shopping bag. She threw away the receipt, so I picked it up and…" her voice trailed off as she handed Jimmie the receipt.

Jimmie read the receipt, and then several seconds later her face twisted into a look of disgust.

"The bitch; she used the milk money to buy a stupid skirt."

"What do you think we should do?" Debbie asked.

"I don't think there's anything we can do," Lou said, wishing with all of her heart that she could test out Jimmie's Many Methods of Torture List.

I was a being a complete and utter pansy, but we didn't have enough evidence to support Chris's innocence. Even if we showed them the receipt it wouldn't have done anything. Lou finished writing her answer and put it on the pile of papers on Mrs. Simons' desk. A few minutes later, the bell rang; it was time for recess and lunch.

Walking down the hallway, Lou realized something.

"THE RAPIST DIDN'T HAVE GLASSES!!"

Kids in the hallway turned to stare at her and the teachers eyed her disapprovingly, but she was ignorant to all of this because she began running down the hallway like a madman, knocking down a fat kid and a couple nerds as she sped past at the speed of a cheetah.

"Sorry!" She yelled back as she continued running through the doors to reach her friends, whom were sitting on a bench eating lunch.

"Guys! It wasn't Teddy in my dream! It was someone else!"

"What?! Hang on, rewind a bit, so you're saying that it's someone else?" Sam asked.

"Um, yeah," Lou replied, gasping for air.

"Wait, how do you know this?" Debbie asked.

"It couldn't have been Teddy 'cause he didn't have those thick glasses on! Teddy can't see shit without his glasses, and this guy was expertly tying these professional hardcore knots and working with buttons and a zipper. So, Teddy couldn't have done it."

"I couldn't do what?"

Lou froze, and then turned around to face Teddy.

"Hi Ted. We were just, um, making a bet that, uh, you couldn't-"

"-that you couldn't down a whole bottle of Tabasco red pepper sauce." Jimmie grinned like an evil child.

Teddy stared at them for a moment, and then called out to the rest of the students at recess.

"Hey guys and girls, pals and gals, watch as I, Teddy Duchamp the Great, down a whole Tabasco bottle."

Like magic, all of the kids swarmed around the bench to watch.

Jimmie handed him the bottle, looking doubtfully at Teddy as he uncapped the bottle.

"He's gonna cave, I'm sure of it." Jimmie said to herself.

"Don't be too sure, Jimmie, 'cause the guy is kind of loco, and he's used to higher levels of heat." Sam whispered to Jimmie.

Teddy was about to bring the bottle to his lips, but then he stopped.

"What do I get if I win?"

"What do we get if you lose?"

"Hmm, if I lose, then I have to down five bottles of Tabasco in June,and if I win, then…" Glancing at Lou, he leaned in and whispered something into Debbie's ear. Debbie glanced at Lou in turn, and then nodded.

As Teddy brought the bottle up to his lips, Lou grabbed Debbie by the shoulders.

"What did you promise him?!"

"I can't tell you!"

Lou shook her head and turned to watch Teddy. He was nervously guzzling down the burgundy contents down his throat. When the bottle was empty, he threw it to the ground.

"Ha! I did it, Jimmie! Beat that!" Teddy shouted out and began dancing his victory dance, which involves imitating Elvis's "special" moves, and nearly all of the girls screamed in delight.

"Idiot," Jimmie muttered, and Lou shook her head.

"He's gonna heat up. Teddy, you're gonna freakin' heat up!"

Teddy's face suddenly turned red, and he jumped off the bench and grabbed the Coca-Cola bottle sitting on somebody's abandoned lunch tray. He gulped it down and sighed, massaging the back of his neck casually while friends were dealing bet wins and bet losses.

"Why can't you tell me, Debbie? Usually you're the one spilling information and gossip to us, but now you've sealed your lips against us?" Lou later asked her friend.

"Just you," Debbie corrected, "Teddy asked me to do him a favor, and I have to keep the favor secret from you, otherwise it totally beats the point."

"Is it something weird?"

"I can't tell you."

"Is it something perverted?"

"I just told you; I can't tell you!"

"It is something perverted, isn't it?!"

"Like I said, I can't tell you."

"Yeah, calm down Lou; you're getting all paranoid." Sam commented.

"I know, but it's just the way that they make it sound that makes me paranoid, I mean, even though we've confirmed that Teddy wasn't the guy in my dream, he could still be a pervert."

"Teddy is a pervert, all men are perverts." Jimmie stated.

"And we're back to the 'they'll push you down and rape you in an alley if you're not careful,' I suppose," Sam suggested, which Lou nodded to.

Around five minutes later, Jimmie said "Here comes my cousin."

"What?!" Debbie suddenly went into a frantic. "How do I look? Is my skirt straight? Do I have a pimple on my nose? Oh my God, if I have a pimple and you don't warn me-!"

"Calm down, Debbie. Wait, is Jason with him?" Sam inquired anxiously.

Debbie nodded, and Sam immediately went into a similar frantic, asking pretty much the same questions.

"Hi Deborah," a chocolate-like voice greeted her.

Debbie froze, and then she managed to work up the courage to put a small smile on her face.

"Um, hi," she said shyly as she stood up from the bench to come face to face with a boy of little over average height with mousy brown hair and hazel-like eyes.

Ray Brower put his books down on the bench and put his hands in his pockets.

"Um, nice day, isn't it?"

"Yeah, pretty nice for early spring."

Lou, rather disturbed by the lovey-dovey action occurring, decided to walk to the other side of the playground to talk with Gordie.

"Listen, Deborah-"

"You can call me Debbie."

"Well, Debbie, I, um, was wondering if you wanted to meet with me this Saturday at the Blue Point. Is that okay, or do you have plans?"

"No, no I don't have plans. What time do you have in mind?"

"Around 1:00 in the afternoon."

"Okay, so I guess I'll see you then."

"Great," Ray flashed a smile, "bye."

"Bye." Once Ray and Jason were done, Debbie sank back onto the bench.

"I'm in love." She smiled to herself.

At that moment, Lou was engaging in an earnest conversation with Gordie.

"Hey dude, it's okay, you'll find another girl." Lou was fully aware of Gordie's infatuation for Debbie, and had no problem with it.

"I suppose," he muttered while crushing ants with his fingers, imagining that they were all factors of Ray winning Debbie's heart.

"Hey Gordo, do you know anything about what Teddy told Debbie to do?"

Gordie nodded, but he refused to give any more information. Lou groaned in frustration; it seems that everybody knew but her.

"What have I done to deserve this?" she sighed, resting her chin on her palms. "Then again I should be thankful that Teddy can't be classified as a rapist."

Gordie looked at her, and then burst out laughing. Lou smiled a bit; it was nice to know that her anxiety made somebody cheer up.