Notes: I hope you enjoyed the long line of updates while you could. I go back to school tomorrow, so updates may be lacking. I'll try to update as soon as I can, so don't expect this story to stop! I'm so excited that I'm going to actually finish this one, I can't stand it. Ha-ha. The usual applies to the errors, just ignore them.
Warning: Language and Violence.
Summary: They were her boys. She was their girl. They were all best friends. Together forever. After the Ray Brower adventure, then what? What happens after? Find out here.
Disclaimer: See Chapter One
Reminder: Please review!

Everything changes but beauty remains
Something so tender I can't explain
I may be dreaming but until I awake
Can't we make this dream last forever?
And I'll cherish all the love we share
-A Moment Like This, Kelly Clarkson

It was almost ten when I opened my eyes. I smiled, and then jumped out of bed. I spun around a few times, giggling.

Reasons I was happy. 1. It was summer. 2. IT WAS SUMMER. 3. High School was so close I could TASTE it. And 4. IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY!

I was thirteen now. Oh yeah! I was so happy I could dance. Now, whenever anyone asked how old any of us were, I would have to add anything to the end of it…well, until January. That's when Chris will be turning fourteen. And then Gordie in February. Then Teddy in April, Vern in May, and then me again in June.

I got dressed and did the usual morning routine stuff, as usual. I walked out of my room to go to the kitchen. I was starving and I was going to do something special for breakfast when I passed the coffee table and paused. I took a few steps backwards and stopped again. There was a box on the table. The top of the box just said, Happy birthday. It was from my mother.

I blinked, and then stared at the box for a second. I opened it and blinked again. This had to be a trick. Inside was a new pair of Converse's. Sure, they were a girly color of green, but they were new. Or, at least, they looked new.

I carried the box into the dining room and set it on the table before continuing into the kitchen.

After looking through all of the cupboards, I finally decided on making a package of ten cinnamon buns.

Fifteen minutes later, the house smelled of cinnamon and I had burned my arm on the tray when I tried to get them off and onto a plate. I ate two ((yes, I am a pig, thank you for noticing)) and left the rest sitting out when the doorbell ring.

I looked at the clock. It was only ten forty-five. I went to the door, unlocked it and pulled it open.

"Happy Birthday!" The guys threw confetti at me.

I smiled big, and then frowned. "I'm not picking that up." I pointed to the confetti. I smiled again. "But what are you doing here? I thought you would be over later. It's not even eleven yet."

"It's not everyday a girl turns thirteen." Gordie said, handing me a small, flat-ish box and a card. Chris handed me a paper bag that was way light. Vern and Teddy handed me the same box. Usually all four of them got me something together. I was confused, but more things to open!

Yes, I find opening the packages more fun than what's in them…usually.

"What's this?" Chris opened my shoebox. "Whoa, are these new?" They guys leaned in to look.

"I think. I don't know though, I didn't buy them." I said honestly.

"Who did?" Teddy asked.

I considered lying, but instead said, "My mother."

They all froze and looked up at me. "No way." Gordie said.

I nodded. "Way."

They looked like they didn't believe me until Vern broke the awkwardness with: "What's that smell?"

"I made cinnamon buns." I told him. At least we were off the shoe subject.

"On you're birthday?" Teddy eyed me.

"If I didn't, who would?" Then I saw the looks on their faces. I sighed. "They're in the kitchen. There's eight left. Help yourself."

They all raced for the kitchen as I set the presents on the table.

When the guys came back in, I reached for Gordie's present. "What is it?" I asked with a grin.

"Open it and find out." He told me.

I tore off the tape and some papers came sliding out. I picked them up and looked them over. My smile grew. "Can I read it out loud?" I asked him.

He shrugged uncaringly. "Sure."

I put the typed pages in order and read: "The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them--words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a teller but for want of an understanding ear.

"In all our lives, there is a fall from innocence. A time after which we are never the same. It happened in the summer of 1959, a long time ago…for some, it's the last real taste of innocence, and the first real taste of life. But for everyone, it's the time that memories are made of."

I looked up at them. "It's the prologue to the story Gordie's writing about us." That was obvious. The words PROLOGUE were written across the top of the first page with The Bodywritten under it.

"Gordie, man, that was the best." Chris told him.

"It's nothing special. I don't know when I'll write about it again." Gordie shrugged it off.

I took a piece of Teddy's cinnamon bun and ate it quickly, receiving a threatening glare from him. I pulled his and Vern's present to be and inside the box were five stuffed animals. A cat, a deer, a lion, a chicken and a rat.

I laughed.

"What?" Vern asked.

I licked the icing off my fingers and said, "They're us. Look." I placed the cat in front of me. "I'm the cat because I said so."

I placed the deer in front of Gordie. "Gordie's the deer because Gordie's nice and gentle, like a deer"

The lion was placed in front of Chris. "Chris is the lion because he's the leader of the group."

Vern got the chicken. "Vern is the chicken because he's not the bravest of all people."

And Teddy got the rat thrown at him. "And Teddy, you're the rat because only rats are dumb enough to do some of the things he does."

I looked at them, and then said, "Now give them back." And I got pelted with stuffed animals.

I pulled Chris' over, since it was last, and opened it. Inside was his old jean jacket. I used to wear it back in grammar school. "But Chris, this was your favorite jacket…" I trailed off.

"And it was yours too. Besides, I bought a new one and it was either throw it away or give it to you."

"Thanks." I said. "Thanks for the present's guys. If you're done eating, put your dishes in the sink. I'm not your mother!" I told them.

They got up to take their cups and plates into the kitchen. I stood up and tried on Chris' coat. No wonder he had to get a new one. It fitted me almost perfectly. And it smelled like him, which gave me butterflies.

"Check the inside pocket." I jumped and turned around. Chris was standing behind me.

I opened the jacket, put my hand inside the pocket, and pulled out a box. I opened it and almost gasped.

Inside was a little circle necklace with blue and white stones on it, Sure, they weren't real stones, but it still looked so pretty. "Chris." I whispered. "I can't accept this…"

"You'll have too." He told me, smiling. "I lost the receipt."

"This must have cost a lot." I shook my head, taking it out of the box.

"Not as much as you'd think. And I didn't steal it." He added.

"I didn't think you did." I handed it out to him. "Make yourself useful?"

I turned around and he put in on for me. For a second I thought his fingers were touching my neck for a longer then necessary, but I was probably imaging it. Chris thought of me as his friend. Friend. Friends. Nothing more, nothing less. I should be grateful for that.

I turned back around. "How does it look?" I asked.

"Really nice." He said.

I nodded as the guys came back in. We hung around for a while when Teddy said, "Before I forget, my mom's okay with you guys sleeping over tomorrow. She gets off work at six, so we have to 'behave' until then."

Teddy's mom was a nurse at the hospital. Just so you know. Too bad tomorrow would be one of the worst days of my life.