Randi sneaked around to the back of Gordie's house, under what she prayed to be Gordie's window. She noticed that if she stood on the trashcan, she could pull herself up to the ledge type thing under the window. Standing on that, she could pull herself up and see if it was in fact, Gordie's window. She did this, peered in, and saw a sleeping Gordie.

Randi rapped on the window.

"Gordie," she hissed. "Gordie," she said as loudly as she dared. She examined the lock on his window, and saw that it wasn't locked. She tried to pull the window up, but couldn't. She reached in her pocket for her trusty pocket knife, and wedged in under the window. She used it as a lever, and pulled up on it, in an attempt to open Gordie's window. The knife slipped and she sliced her open palm.

"Shit," she mumbled under her breath. But the pull had gotten Gordie's window halfway open. Her hand was bleeding, and she was having a hard time pulling herself up. Finally, she hoisted herself up, and landed with a soft thud on Gordie's floor. He was still sleeping.

"I know you're awake," she whispered.

Gordie got up slowly. "Why are you in my room?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

"I need to talk to you," she said, still clutching her hand, "Can you get me a handkerchief or a sock or something? I cut my hand trying to open your damn window."

Gordie got up and got a handkerchief out of his drawer. "Are you gonna be okay?"

Randi wrapped it around her hand. "Yeah, I'll fix it when I get home," she dismissed it quickly.

"So what is it that you have to tell me that can't wait until morning?"

"Well, I just got back from the hill..."

"Yeah, how was that?"

"I have the feeling that you already know," Randi glared.

Gordie shifted uncomfortably. "Uh, I-"

"I know what you did. Gordie, how could you? And you had to bring Chris and Vern too? What is your fucking problem?" Randi asked, her voice quiet with anger.

"I just...just..."

"You hurt me for no good reason. Friends aren't supposed to do that," she reminded him. "You knew this meant a lot to me, and you've been acting like a dick all day. I'm here because I want this settled right now. What is your fucking problem?" Randi asked simply.

Gordie stared at his hands. "I wish it was that easy," he started slowly, "I don't know."

"Well you better figure it the fuck out," Randi said angrily. She sighed, and her tone of voice changed. "Gordie, you know whatever I may have with Teddy would never change what WE have. But spying on me, like a fucking child!" she shook her head. "I never would have expected that from you," her voice wavered, "Not from you."

"Randi," Gordie started, but she cut him off. Randi was on the verge of tears. "No Gordie. I don't wanna hear it," she mumbled, blinking back her tears, "Not now. Just," she sighed, not knowing how to finish her sentence. "I'm going now."

"Randi wait, please," Gordie pleaded, but she ignored him, and climbed out of his window.

Gordie sat down on his bed, dejected. "What's wrong with me?" he mumbled. That was just the thing, he really didn't know. It's not that he didn't want to tell Randi, he had no idea what he was doing, or how he felt about anything. Gordie sighed, and sat awake most of the night.

**********************

Randi walked to her house, letting the tears spill over in the dark. Randi hated arguing with the people she cared about. That was her one weakness, the one thing that would make her layer of toughness slip away, and the tears appear. She always avoided arguing, but she was so angry with Gordie. No, she was disappointed. She felt so hurt. She wiped her hand across her eyes, sniffling. She never ever fought with Gordie before. They never had an argument as long as they knew each other. Randi sincerely hoped this would be a one time thing, because she didn't know if she could take the emotional strain of losing Gordie as a friend.

She glanced at the side of her house briefly before climbing up. She had always told her dad that she loved climbing ivy, so when they moved, he put one of those wicker ladder type things under her window, with climbing ivy all over it. It's perfect for sneaking in and out of the house, which is the main reason Randi showed any interest in it. Randi pulled herself through her window, and closed it behind her. She looked down at her wrapped hand, and gingerly lifted the make-shift bandage. It was still bleeding.

"Gross," she muttered. She stared at it for a moment. "Just like out of 'Tales From The Crypt'," she thought. Randi was very into campy horror movies, and gross stuff like that. That was another thing she and Gordie had in common, though Gordie liked the mystery and plot of those movies more. It pained Randi to think of Gordie, so she went to the bathroom to give her wound a proper dressing. She tripped over Rudy, who was sitting outside her door. She stared at him for a moment and blinked a few times.

"Rans," he said quietly, getting up.

"Rudy," she mumbled, letting her emotions get the better of her, "My hand hurts."

He hugged her. "Let's check out that hand, and you can tell me where you went."

"But dad-"

"Tina and Dad fell asleep around ten, so I'll just tell them you came out at ten thirty."

Randi nodded and bit her lip. Rudy took her in the bathroom and helped her clean her cut. Randi explained where she was briefly. She didn't want to go into the whole story.

"What did you have to say to Gordie that was so important?" Rudy asked when she finished.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Randi mumbled. Her eyes grew wide. "Oh no, not peroxide!" she cried, pulling back her hand. Rudy rolled his eyes.

"Randi shush, it's for your own good," he insisted. Randi pouted, but slowly extended her hand to Rudy.

"Ya know," Rudy said, as he dabbed her hand, and Randi winced, "For someone who acts so tough, you're a pretty big baby."

"I'm not a baby!" Randi hissed. "Ya know, for someone who sleeps unattended all day, you sure are making a lot of enemies."

Rudy laughed quietly. "I love you too kiddo. Now go to sleep before you get in trouble," he patted her on the head. Randi walked to her room.

"Rudy?" she whispered, before going in.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No problem. Now you, sleep...go," Rudy instructed. Randi went into her room and slept.

**********************

"Randi, wake up," Tina called, stepping into Randi's room. "The phone's for you."

"Phone?" Randi grumbled. "What time is it?"

"It's noon. You should be up already," Tina admonished.

"Who's on the phone?" Randi asked, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"It's Mikey," Tina said.

"Mikey?" Randi bolted up and zoomed down the stairs and into the kitchen. She picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Randi!" a familiar voice called warmly.

"Meeeekeeeeyyy!" Randi yelped. "Oh, Mikey man, what's up?"

"I've got great news!" Mikey announced excitedly.

"You found the remains of Willie's ship?" Randi guessed.

"No, nothing that great. Mouth and I are coming to stay the weekend with you. My mom and Tina already talked it all out," Mikey said happily.

Randi cheered, "All right!" She pumped her fist in the air. "When exactly are you coming down?"

"Well, tomorrow night. We'll stay Saturday, and go home Sunday."

"This is so cool, wait...you said you were bringing Mouth...didn't you?"

"Yeah, he's right here, do you want to talk to him?" Mikey asked.

"Uh, I'm sure he's busy-"

"Helloooooo Randi!" Mouth said. Randi rolled her eyes. Mikey must not have heard her obvious not-wanting-to-talk-to-Mouth-voice, before he handed Mouth the phone.

"Hi Mouth," Randi said dryly.

"How's life in the slow lane?"

Randi laughed. "Mouth, you live in Astoria. I mean, I love the place, but it's not much different from Castle Rock."

"Oh, don't even try and act like you don't miss me," Mouth taunted.

"How's Stef?" Randi asked with a grin. Mouth had been planning on asking her out when Randi left.

"Well," Mouth paused dramatically for effect, "...She's totally my girlfriend! Now, I know this must be really upsetting for you-"

"Yeah, I didn't know Stef had such low expectations," Randi interrupted.

"Screw you!" Mouth shot back.

"No thank you, I'm still sober," Randi sang.

"Just keep telling yourself that. Here's Mikey," Mouth huffed.

Randi smiled to herself, having gotten the better of him.

"Randi? Sorry, he's been really cocky since he and Stef started going out," Mikey explained.

"On a similar note, I have a somewhat-boyfriend," Randi said as calmly as she could manage.

"All right," Mikey smiled. "We'll get to meet him right? I'll have to see if he's good enough for my cousin."

Randi laughed.

"Wait, is it that Gordie kid you're always telling me about?"

"Noooo," Randi said, playing with the phone cord. "You'll get to meet him, AND Teddy, seeing as they're two different people. Well, what about you? Any lucky ladies up for a piece of the Mikester?"

"You're demented."

"And you're so complimentary," Randi laughed.

"Aw, well, you know I'm not into that whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing just yet. We've got our whole lives for that. We're just kids."

"We're fifteen Mikey," Randi reminded him, "But if you pass up every chance that comes along because you don't think you're ready, how will you ever be ready when it's the real thing?"

"I'm not passing up chances, I'm just not out looking for them," Mikey protested.

"You can't just wait for the perfect girl to just fall in your lap," Randi said simply. She heard a thud, and Mikey groan loudly. "What was that?"

"Mouth fell on me."

"Okay, I was wrong, sometimes girls DO fall in your lap," Randi smiled.

Mikey laughed, and Randi could hear him tell Mouth that Randi had insulted his manhood.

"If anyone here is the wrong sex, it's you Randi!" Mouth yelled loud enough for Randi to hear him.

"I take no offense to that," Randi said calmly.

"You should," Mouth said, obviously having taken the phone from Mikey.

"Mikey?" Randi said, ignoring Mouth. She heard a struggle, and a loud noise. Randi held the phone away from her ear and grimaced.

"Randi," Mikey said, once he had gained control of the phone, "Let's end our conversation on that lovely note."

"Rub it in Mouth's face that I have a boyfriend, will ya?"

"Of course."

"See ya cous," Randi grinned.

"Bye Randi," Mikey closed, and hung up.

Randi placed the phone back in the cradle and opened the fridge.

"Randi?" Tina called, coming into the kitchen, "You don't have plans today, do you?"

"I plan on eating some breakfast," Randi said, "Or uh, lunch rather."

Tina giggled. "Well, we're supposed to eat over at the Duchamp's at five-thirty, so I want you to be ready by then, ok?"

"I forgot about that!" Randi cried, "Christ, with that tonight, Mikey and Mouth spending the weekend and everything last night, I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever get a day where I don't have to do anything!"

"Probably not," Tina said perkily. Randi groaned. Tina was always perky. Randi, on the other hand, was not a morning person, and neither was Rudy. Randi's dad got up really early to go to work, so Randi and Rudy must have gotten the 'sleepy gene' from their mother. Randi was pondering this when Tina pulled her from her thoughts.

"Plan on refrigerating the whole neighborhood?"

Randi realized that she was still standing in front of the open fridge. "Yes," she said. "I thought it would be an act of kindness to our neighbors."

"Speaking of acts of kindness, it goes without saying that you'll be on your best behavior tonight," Tina reminded her.

"I wish it had gone without saying," Randi murmured as she closed the fridge door.

"What?"

"Of course," Randi smiled.

"Good, if you wake up Rudy, I'll make you two some lunch," Tina offered.

"Okay," Randi said, and on her way to the steps, the doorbell rang.

Randi groaned, turned on her heels, and answered the door.

"Hey," Gordie said, almost cautiously, as if he thought Randi would hit him, "How's your hand?"

"It's fine," Randi said coldly.

Gordie looked down and was silent.

Randi sighed, "Is that why you came? Because I have stuff to do," she trailed off.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was acting like a jerk and I'm....sorry," Gordie said, his eyes begging for forgiveness.

Randi's hard expression softened. "I forgive you. And I'm sorry if I overreacted a bit."

Gordie slowly started to smile, "So we're okay?"

Randi just grinned and gave Gordie a huge hug. "How can I stay mad at that baby face, Lachance?" Randi cooed, slapping Gordie's face gently.

"Let's never fight again," Gordie said.

"Ok, enough with the TV sitcom moment," Randi said, getting Gordie into a headlock, and giving him a supreme noogie, while h e vocally objected.

"Get off!" he shrilled.

"You squeal like a girl," she informed him, letting go of his head.

Gordie just glared at her, trying to smooth down his hair, which was sticking up at odd angles. "You know I hate it when you do that," he grumbled.

"The sole reason I continue to do it," Randi grinned tauntingly.

"I'll get you, Riverton," Gordie growled, and started tickling Randi. She began to giggle uncontrollably.

"Gordie stop!" she cried, still laughing. Tears streamed down her face, and she could barely breathe. Gordie had practically tackled her to the ground, and he was leaning over her, tickling her.

"Gordie you shit nugget!" Randi cried, working up the energy to push him off of her.

"Shit nugget, that's a new one," Gordie commented.

"What can I say? I'm original," Randi giggled, wiping her eyes. She draped her arm over Gordie's neck. "Let's go to the tree house, I've got great news. Remember how I was telling you about my cousin and his friend?"